"
"I can understand those," said Daisy, "they were made to get
along as they do; they have got all they want."
Daisy was silent, musing, for a little time; then she broke
out again.
"Isn't she very miserable, Dr. Sandford?"
"She is a very crabbed old thing, so the inference is fair
that she is miserable. In fact, I do not see how she can avoid
it."
Daisy pondered perhaps this misery which she could so little
imagine; however, she let the subject drop as to any more
words about it. She was only what the doctor called "quaintly
sober," all the rest of the way.
"Why, she looks child-like and bright enough now," said Mrs.
Sandford, to whom he made the remark.
Daisy and Nora were exchanging mutual gratulations. The doctor
looked at them.
"At the rate in which she is growing old," said he, "she will
have the soul of Methuselah in a body of twenty years."
"I don't believe it," said Mrs. Sandford.
Nora and Daisy had a great day of it. Nothing broke the full
flow of business and pleasure during all the long hours; the
day was not hot to them, nor the shadows long in coming.
Behind the house there was a deep grassy dell through which a
brook ran. Over this brook in the dell a great black walnut
tree cast its constant flickering shadow; flickering when the
wind played in the leaves and branches, although to-day the
air was still and sultry, and the leaves and the shadows were
still too, and did not move.
Pages:
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556