Dotterel

“ As soon as Dotterine and her godmother were clear of the enemy, Dotterine took off her own clothes, and put on those of a peasant, and in order to disguise her better her godmother changed her face completely. ‘When better times come,’ her protectress said cheerfully, ‘and you want to look like yourself again, you have only to whisper the words I have taught you into the basket, and say you would like to have your own face once more, and it will be all right in a moment. ”

“ Poor old Uncle Crannie; but, my dear little niece, this is not a question of what you like or what you want. It is a question of what is right to do. Perhaps, little Dorothy, neither mother nor I have taught you enough the meaning of the word duty. It means, what you owe to others of service or love. Now, you owe it to your mother to be as merry and happy as a bird; and, after all, many little girls would jump for joy to be off to San Remo. ”

“ May my Lady Dorothea, if we may yet call her so, suffer as much, and have the like passion, for this young Lord, whom she has preferred to the rest of mankind, as others have had for her; and may this love, before the year come about, make her taste of the first curse imposed on womankind—the pains of becoming a mother. May her first-born be none of her own sex, nor so like her, but that he may resemble her Lord as much as herself. ”

“ The children throve well, and Dotterine’s nurse loved her as if she were the baby’s real mother. Every day the little girl seemed to grow prettier, and people used to say she would soon be as beautiful as her godmother, but no one knew, except the nurse, that at night, when the child slept, a strange and lovely lady bent over her. At length she told the queen what she had seen, but they determined to keep it as a secret between themselves. ”

“ Dorothy went slowly upstairs, heedless of Ingleby's repeated "Come, my dear, come!" And when at last they had reached the nursery, Dorothy seated herself in the old rocking-chair, put her head back, and swinging gently backwards and forwards, said seriously, almost solemnly—
"Jingle"—it was her pet name for her faithful nurse—"I hate 'playmates,' as Uncle Crannie calls them. If I go to the sunny South, I shall not play with any one." ”

“ I can’t feel it!”
“Poor little child, lost in the dark!” said Mrs Dorothy, gently. “Dear, the Lord must know how very much easier it would be to see. But His especial blessing is spoken on them that have not seen, and yet have believed. ’Tis an honour to thy Father, little Phoebe, to put thine hand in His, and let Him lead thee where He will. Thine earthly father would have liked thee to trust him. Canst thou not trust the heavenly Father?” ”

“ Thou art but a young traveller; and such mostly long for some company. Yet, bethink thee, my dear, I can but be sorry for thee, while the Lord can help thee. He is the best to trust, child.”
“Yes, I know,” whispered Phoebe. “You are so good, Mrs Dorothy!”
“Now for the story!” said Rhoda, dancing into the little parlour. “You’ve had oceans of time to dry your eyes. I have been to Mrs Jane, and Mrs Clarissa, and my Lady Betty; and I’ve had a dish of tea with each one. I shall turn into a tea-plant presently. Now I’m ready, Mrs Dorothy; go on!” ”

“ For I have come to love both girls very dearly, and would have not the slightest objection to adopting them both."
"And us two also?" asked Dotty, mischievously.
"Yes, and you two also! Bless my soul! From a lonely, somewhat misanthropic old man, you young people have turned me into a real human being! I like young voices round me, and young folks's pleasures going on in my house. Well, my dears, are you interested to know my choice?"
"ARE we?" cried Dotty, while Dolly fairly held her breath.
"I have chosen Alicia," Mr. Forbes announced, and there was a deep silence. ”

“ If it was to me, it would be Mr."
"Master, you mean," corrected Grace.
"No, Horace, you are not Mr. yet!" said Dotty, confidently; "you've never been married."
The next thing in order was the reading of the letter. Dotty tore it open with a trembling hand. I should like to see another letter that would make a child so happy as that one did! It was written by three different people, and all to the same little girl. Not a line to Uncle Henry or Aunt Maria, or Horace or Grace. All to Dotty's self, as if she were a personage of the first importance.
Mamma began it. ”

“ While all the world in slumber lies.
“There now,” said Uncle John Philip, “there’s a song about the lady, and some time I’ll tell you the most wonderful fairy story you ever heard.”
“You are the best uncle in the world,” said Dorothy, now smiling and happy.
“Here are your spectacles. I don’t believe they’ll ever make you see dreadful things again.”
277 “Dorothy, child,” said the wise man, “my spectacles were blurred and dim, but they have been washed in the tears of a little child, and henceforth I shall see better.” ”

“ And a man may say what he will that is right, without looking first round to see if a spy be within hearing. We are free, Dorothy, once more.”
“Eh, but it do feel like a dream! I shall have to pinch myself to make sure I’m awake. But, Master, do you think it is sure? She haven’t changed, think you?”
Mr Ewring shook his head. “The Lady Elizabeth suffered with us,” he said, “and she will not forsake us now. No, Dorothy, she has not changed: she is not one to change. Let us not distrust either her or the Lord. ”

“ Dorothy is a girl of good judgment. She knows just the life that will be hers as your wife; she is prepared for it and may not count it a sacrifice but a privilege. It is right that you should wait for her father’s consent, which he will give in time. The Lord answers my prayers but not always my way. Before you marry you must be better fitted for your work and it must be established. A year or so seems a long time now but if you both are busy it will soon pass by and will give you time to demonstrate if her father’s wish is to be Dorothy’s future. Good night, John. ”

“ Why not your sister? Ah, I understand!—you would then be sole heir. But I must tell the truth, young gentleman; so much has been on my conscience all these years that I wish to have nothing left to reproach me. There was a time when, to get a reward, I might, perhaps, have been willing to say that the other rescued baby was your cousin, but now my heart is better. Truth is truth. I held little Donald and Dorothy both in these arms that terrible night. If I saved any little girl, it was Dorothy; and Dorothy was Donald Reed's twin sister. ”

“ I am a little absent-minded, thinking of old mother Knowles."
"Grandma, please wait a minute," said Prudy, after she had picked up the stitch. "If you are going to tell a story, I want to get my work and bring it in here. I'm in a hurry about that scarf for mamma."
"It is nothing very remarkable," said Mrs. Read, as the children seated themselves, one on each side of her, Prudy with her crocheting of violet and white worsted, and Dotty with nothing at all to do but play with the tongs.
"Mrs. Knowles was a very large, fleshy woman, who lived near my father's house when I was a little girl. ”

“ I am a Presbyterian, but I want Dorothy to marry a lawyer, or a planter—not a minister. I doubt if a minister in this new country should marry; he is almost a creature of charity. If you will go to Lexington or Danville and practice law or to the ‘cane country’ and with your father’s and my help buy a thousand acres and improve it, in two or three years I will give my consent. If not, in my opinion, you should remain unmarried. It is the church or Dorothy for your bride. Son, it is up to you.”
John did not answer but walked out into the night. ”

“ We cannot as concerns ourselves; how then shall we judge for others?”
“I wonder what Rhoda will do now?” suggested Phoebe, after a minute’s silence.
She looked up, and saw an expression, which was the mixture of pity and amusement, on Mrs Dorothy’s lips. The amusement died away, but the pity remained and grew deeper.
“Can you guess, Mrs Dolly?”
“‘Lord, and what shall this man do?’ You know the answer, Phoebe.”
“Yes, I know: but— Mrs Dorothy, would you not like to know the future?”
“Certainly not, dear child. I am very thankful for the mist which my Father hath cast as a veil over my eyes.” ”

“ Dorothy held her head down in silence, and seeing that she did not answer. Manners continued.
"I must be frank with you, Doll. The husband they have chosen thee may be an earl in time to come, and is a Derby to boot. He is rich, and mayhap he may love thee, too, and I—and I——"
"Stop, John, stop," she commanded. "Would you thus trifle with my love? I have seen in thee a noble heart, a kind heart, a loving heart. I have refused many before thee. I have just refused one lord, and I shall refuse the other. ”

“ Good-by now for the present, and I wish you success with your shopping. Give my love to your sister, and tell her I hope the silk and lace will be suited to her taste.”
“O Dorothy, isn’t he kind? whose uncles are better than ours?” exclaimed Ethel as they walked up the street.
“Who, indeed!” said Dorothy. “Uncle George has always been good as gold to me. O Ethel, what perfectly lovely silk and lace he has given us! I shall be surprised if Blanche does not go almost wild with delight when she sees them.”
“Yes, they seem too beautiful and costly for girls so poor as we are. ”

“ To be very frank with you, Louise, John is always sullen toward me; and Dorothy acts as though she were half afraid of me, and her foolish jumpings and blushings seem so out of place, when one remembers that she is my own sister, that, I will confess to you, I sometimes feel utterly out of patience with her. As for my mother and father, while I honour them as true, unselfish, faithful parents, there are many subjects upon which we do not think alike; and I am often at a loss to know how to get along without hurting their feelings. ”

“ So Dotty was put into a water-proof cloak, and went with her two sisters; no more afraid of the storm than a snow-bird wrapped in his feathers.
“You here? O, ho!” said Tate, putting her arm around Dotty; “they like to not let me come; but I told ’em you and I had some business.”
“That’s what I told my mother,” said Dotty; “now let’s go right up to Miss Parker, and ask her.” ”

“ To think such a glorious thing as this could happen to Dotty! and she not the best girl in the world either! A visit from her bosom friend! "Aunt 'Ria, do you understand? Aunt Louise? Gracie? This is Tate Penny!"
"Who asked her to come? How did she happen to be with mamma, the same day, in the same cars?"
Well, grandma Parlin invited her to come. "When one lives in an India-rubber house," she said, "a few people more or less make no difference at all. She wished Dotty's 'nipperkin' of happiness to be full for once." ”

“ Dorothy, or Dolly, was the darling of the household, alike the pet and tyrant of the boys. The elder ones were continually contriving pleasures for their sister, she as continually playing little mother to the smaller people in the nursery, each of whom in turn learned to trot after her as soon as they could trot independently, and to look for her help in every difficulty. ”

“ How often had she heard Prudy say, “It’s a quarter of,” and seen her skip out of the house, kissing her hand for good by! As the door closed after her, Dotty had always felt as if it shut herself out of something beautiful—something every way desirable.
And now it was coming,—the day and the hour. She was about to be a school-girl at last. No longer a little child, who stays at home and plays with paper dolls, [12] but a little woman, who goes out to learn the ways of the world. ”

“ Tell thy sad story.”
“Alas!” said the poor doll, who had only one eye, one arm and half a kid leg, “a little girl, who was a most careless mistress, let me fall so often that I was completely undone and my beauty destroyed.”
The doll bowed her head and the queen touched it with her golden wand, saying:—“Arise, my child, and be as perfect as thou should’st,” and immediately the doll, who had looked so badly before, arose whole and beautiful. She bowed low to the queen and left the throne.
Dorothy saw many beautiful dolls, waiting on the other side of the hall. ”

“ Now, in the space of one night—so it seemed to the mother—she had sprung into young ladyhood, nay, sprung over it entirely, and stood on the very verge of womanhood! Engaged to be married! What an unaccountable state of things! Dorothy actually planning to go away from home—to be gone over night, many nights, every night Dorothy to have a home of her own, to be a housekeeper, a planner, a manager! To be a minister's wife! ”

“ And oh, I shall be sorry to leave Dorothy, who nursed Nannette so kindly and has been such a lovely comforter and helper to us in all our sorrow and cares.”
“Yes, Dorothy is a good, kind-hearted, helpful girl,” he responded, “almost as dear to me as my own nieces; even the two who have no father to love and care for them.”
“Dear uncle, it makes me feel very happy to hear you say you love Ethel and me. ”

“ I do love children!”
Aunt Betty rose and turning to Dorothy, remarked:
“That should be a much better use for your money when you find it than adopting the grandchildren of a rich old Hardheart! Come, child, we must to bed; and to-morrow, we’ll take home the twins. ‘Pass them on’ to Heartsease.”
“Oh! must we? But, maybe, they won’t keep them there. Then, course, you wouldn’t leave them just anywhere, out of doors, would you? Besides, I don’t know what Molly will say. She’s perfectly devoted to her ‘son,’ ’Nias.” ”