Marjory

“ In the afternoon Marjory sat in the Braeside pew with Mrs. Forester and Blanche. Again the preacher's theme was love—"the greatest thing in the world"—love to the Creator, and, through it, love to all His creatures great and small. The old man told how love can smooth rough places, can right wrong, can win battles; how love and kindness attract love and kindness in return, and how a loving thought, word, or action is never lost. ”

“ I shall have Marjory all to myself, now! To think that—but for a lucky blunder—I should be spelling out scarabs and things on the wrong side of that wall at this moment, and never dreaming that Marjory was so——Ah, she's coming! (Miss Seaton enters, looking pale and disconsolate.) Marjory, you've no idea what you've missed! I must tell you—it's too good to lose. What do you think all these good people have been taking me for? You'll never guess! They actually believed I was hired from Blankley's! Give you my word they did!... Why don't you laugh, Marjory? ”

“ Blanche had told her cousin something of Marjory's history, and Maud was prepared to be much interested in her, for her life had been so unusual, so different from that of ordinary girls.
"I've never met anybody just like you," she said to Marjory as they walked across the park, "and I want to know all about you and your belongings, and above all, I ache to find out what is in that forbidden room, and why you mustn't go into it." ”

“ It is a mistake, Marjory. Half the unhappy marriages in the world come from the difficulty which the untutored mind has in saying 'No' with decent courtesy. It is so much easier to say 'Yes,' since that requires no diplomacy. If I had daughters I should always impress on them that the eleventh commandment does not consist in 'Thou shalt not refuse.'"
"I shouldn't have thought it necessary to impress that on the girls of the present day," remarked Paul, rather hastily, and Marjory flushed up at once. ”

“ Vane, jubilant over the success, when Marjory went behind the scenes to aid in the coming tableaux, "I should make my fortune. He is the only amateur I ever saw who knows how to make love!"
"He did it very well," assented Marjory, coldly. She felt glad that he was too busy with the scenery for her to have speech with him; she would not have known what to say--for she had liked it--she had understood--and yet!---- It was bad enough to listen for a moment to Paul's approval when he came round, escorting Alice Woodward, who was wanted for the statue in "Winter's Tale." ”

“ I think it would be splendid to begin on my birthday. I've wanted to learn things for such a long time, it will be a kind of present," said Marjory.
"How funny you are!" cried Blanche. "I should hate to have lessons on my birthday. I always have a holiday. Mine is in June, and Waspy and I always have a treat of some kind."
"Miss Waspe also says, Marjory, that she is very glad indeed that you are going to be her pupil, and is looking forward to the term's work with two of you to teach."
Marjory blushed with pleasure. "She is very kind. I am looking forward too." ”

“ There was just a suspicion of brightness in Alan's eyes just then which Marjory did not fail to see, and she said quickly,—
"O Alan, I'm sure she's just as proud of you. Mothers are always proud of their children." ”

“ A most irrational old lady, no doubt, yet not altogether blameworthy in her self-satisfied appreciation of the tea "that was no from the pairish, praise be to the Lord," and very human, certainly, in her eager desire to hear the news of that parish. Yet her face when Marjory told her of the laird's return seemed to settle into a strange indifference. "The laird! It will be Mr. Paul you're meaning." ”

“ And he looked admiringly at Marjory.
"We have a rather nice lesson with Miss Waspe about famous men and women, and she tells us stories about them, and describes them so beautifully that I can see them quite plainly. It is so splendid to think they were really alive and walked about just like ordinary people."
Alan agreed, and there was a short silence. Marjory felt sure that the boy had something else to say, for he seemed rather fidgety, and got up and walked about the room, fingering things here and there, and clearing his throat several times. ”

“ The worst of it was that her things fitted her so badly that they looked as if they could not possibly have been made for her, and that absurd little straw hat, thirty years too young for her, might easily have been one that Marjory had no longer any use for. How Marjory could have allowed her to come out like that I can't imagine. I was quite glad she kept inside the carriage, and didn't join our group on the platform. I've no use for an ill-dressed woman. ”

“ As she stood on the station platform looking in vain for a tall girl with broad shoulders and a persuasive grin, she heard her name called, and turned to meet the outstretched hand of a very different person. This person was small and slender, with a plain, distinguished little face, intelligent eyes, and a low and charming voice. From the very Parisian 212 arrangement that topped her shining coils of hair to the tips of her tiny shoes, she was one of the most thoroughly well-dressed young women Marjory had ever seen. ”

“ When Marjory and I had been waiting for death in the water-cave, we thought that nothing could be so protracted; but now I knew better. Then, we had been together, and whatever came, even death itself, would be shared by us. But now I was alone; and Marjory away, and in danger. In what danger I knew not, I could only imagine; and at every new thought of fear and horror I ground my teeth afresh and longed for action. Fortunately there was something to do. The detectives wanted to know all I could tell them. ”

“ She should do so on her fifteenth birthday, but not before. Lisbeth went in once a week with pail, broom, and duster, but she always carefully locked the door behind her, and Marjory knew nothing of the room or its contents. "Some bonnie day," was all that the old woman would say when she questioned her.
Mary Ann continued,27—
"It seems a shame you can't be made a lady of too."
"I can be a lady without going to school," said Marjory sulkily. ”

“ Fairy tales there were in plenty, and the rest were of the tender, sentimental kind—love poems and the like. If Blanche Forester had been describing the collection, she would have said that there was not a single dry book amongst them—the word "dry" in her vocabulary meaning anything from uninteresting to instructive! Had the doctor only known it, he need not have feared the attraction of these books for his niece. Marjory required something stronger and more active in character—stories of great men and women, histories of the world and its wonders, something stirring and stimulating. ”

“ I wonder where the other half is."
"Lisbeth doesn't know; she says she never saw or heard of the other half."
"If you were in a fairy tale, you'd make all the knights that wanted to marry you go all over the world to find the other half; and then most likely the person that had it would turn out to be a king's64 son, and he would marry you, and you would be a queen, and be happy ever after."
Marjory laughed. "You shall make a story of it and tell it to me some day; but come now and see my bedroom." ”

“ After luncheon the next day, Marjorie got ready to go to spend the afternoon with Delight.
She wore her new plaid dress trimmed with black velvet and gilt buttons, and as red was the prevailing color in the plaid, her dark curls were tied up with a big red bow.
Very pretty she looked as she came for her mother's inspection.
"Am I all right, Mother?"
"Yes, Midget mine; you look as spick and span as a nice little Queen of Sheba. Now don't slide down the banisters, or do anything hoydenish. Try to behave more as Delight does." ”

“ And Marjorie clasped her hands, with a look of horror on her face. "Don't ask me to leave Mother and Father! And King, and Kitty, and the baby! Why, Grandma, I couldn't do it, any more than I could fly!"
"Why not? You don't realize all I could do for you. We live much more handsomely than you do at home, and I would give you everything you wanted." ”

“ Dressed in a white serge, with pipings and bows of scarlet velvet, her cheeks glowing red with the joyous excitement of getting home, and her eyes dancing with happiness, Marjorie flew downstairs just in time to tumble into the arms of her father, who was entering the hall door.
"Why, bless my stars!" he exclaimed; "who in the world is this?"
"Your long-lost daughter!" said Midge, nestling in his big, comfortable embrace.
"No! Can it be? This great big girl! Why, how you've grown! And yet,—yes, it is! my own Marjorie Mischief Mopsy Midget Maynard! ”

“ She was nine years old, she was lissome and fair,
And she wore emeralds in her hair.
She could dance like a leaf, she could sing like a thrush,
She was bold as the north wind, and sweet as a blush.
Her father tanned, her mother span,
“But Marjorie shall marry a gentleman,—
Silks and satins, I’ll lay you a crown!”—
So said the people in Banbury town.
Such was Marjorie—and who should come
To woo her but this Frodgedobbulum,
A vulgar giant, who wore no gloves,
And very pig-headed in his loves! ”

“ All the freshness of his first love for Marjorie returned, his keen sense of the sweet gallantry of her voice and bearing, his admiration for the swift, falconlike swoop of her decisions, for the grace and poise of her body, and the steady frankness of her eyes; but now it was all charged with his sense of this new joint life germinating at the heart of her slender vigour, spreading throughout her being to change it altogether into womanhood for ever. ”

“ When Marjorie and the Dream were again alone, Marjorie continued humming the little tune, happily.
"The world is more beautiful than it was. Don't you think so?" said the Dream, presently.
"Yes," said Marjorie. ”

“ THE MARJORIE BOOKS
Marjorie is a happy little girl of twelve, up to mischief, but full of goodness and sincerity. In her and her friends every girl reader will see much of her own love of fun, play and adventure. ”

“ Look here, I don’t know what Marjorie is going to grow like, but I know this—that she is the sweetest, most tender-hearted, dearest little soul, loyal and true and straight, and because you’ve won her love, my good lad, you ought to go down on your knees and thank Heaven for it. She’s worth ten, fifty, a hundred of you and of me. A good woman—and Marjorie is that—a good woman, I tell you, is better, infinitely better, than the finest man that walks; and you are not that, not by a long way, Tom Arundel. ”

“ They were a hearty, rollicking crowd, full of good-natured chaff, and boisterous nonsense, and Delight, who had lived much alone, was bewildered at their noise and fun.
But she slipped her hand from her pretty white muff, and tucked it into
Marjorie's, who gave her a squeeze that meant sympathy and encouragement.
Midget was beginning to realize that the more she saw of Delight, the better she liked her. And the brave way in which the little girl met the coolness and indifference that were shown her, roused Marjorie's sense of justice, and she at once began to stand up for her. ”

“ There are some faces from which we never think of Him looking forth to gaze upon us and what we do and think and say;—and yet it is from just those that the greatest experiences are likely to come."
"And those are the places where it is so hard to earn His love," said Marjorie, gravely.
"But," said the Dream, "doesn't He always look with love, and give love?"
"Yes," said Marjorie; "but I don't always give Him cause to. It is only because He sees through the veil of my face and my actions that He is able to. He wants us to be always worthy of what He gives." ”

“ At first Marjorie thought she was alone as she advanced into the room, then her eyes, grown accustomed to the softly shaded lights, detected a small, white-haired woman sitting in a large easy chair who rose as she drew nearer, and Marjorie saw that she was a hunchback. ”

“ Marjorie dropped her chip into the stove and looked up at the broad figure in the wooden rocker—a figure in a black dress and gingham apron, with a neat white cap covering her gray hair, a round face, from which Marjorie had taken her roundness and dimples, a shrewd face with a determined mouth and the kindliest eyes that ever looked out upon the world. Marjorie looked at her and loved her. ”

“ A pleasant laugh sounded behind her as she started up, and, looking round, she nearly sat down again in sheer surprise, for there close by was a slender little lady, comfortably established under a big umbrella.
"If there were any fairies, I'd be sure that was one," thought Marjorie, staring with all her might, for her mind was still full of the old story; and curious things do happen on birthdays, as every one knows. ”

“ His thoughts were of many things—of his years of unalloyed happiness—of his great love for his wife and babies, and then of this newly-acquired fortune. Marjorie’s theory of living he at last concluded appeared to be more sensible than his own, after all, and when he finally arose, it was with the full determination to use every power within his grasp to meet all the requirements due this new position of his. He would mold his life anew; become a man of affairs. ”

“ Marjorie could hardly remember a time when she had felt more utterly at peace with the world. A quiet happiness permeated her whole being, and she was filled with the sense 104 of satisfaction which the performance of a good deed always brings.
Seven o’clock saw her slipping into the exquisite peachblow evening frock of shimmering silk which she was to wear to the party under her domino, nor could she be other than pleasantly elated at the story her mirror told her. ”