Bosom Friends

ld, and she

ingdom by

t the lodgings, and had been invited by that worthy woman into the upper drawing-room during the temporary absence of its occupiers, and shown a most fascinating cabin

hings for yourself?" said Isobel ecstatically, when she had exam

d made a tidy sum out of it too. She could have got me taken on by the Anchor Line as runs to America if I'd have signed for two years. That was when my first h

anion had missed. "You might have seen Red Indians, and wigwams, and medicine men, and 'r

Liverpool in hides and tallow when I were a girl, if that's

poetry. I've just been reading it with mother, and it's most delight

a hazy remembrance of certain pieces in her spelling book when a child, and being apparently unwillin

up on the kitchen wall where he can get at them handy. What suits me more is something in the way of a romance-'Lady Gwendolen's Lovers,' or 'The Black Duke's Secret'-when I've time to take up a book, which i

n invaluable ally in saving the treasured specimens of flowers or sea-weeds which Mrs. Jackson, in her praiseworth

washed them in a bucket of water, and they're quite nice now; so I shall put them in a box, to make sure they'll be safe. Polly's father is part owner of a schooner, and sometimes they f

" suggested Mrs. Stewart. "I believe they find them som

a red shawl tied over her head, she might be seen every morning wheeling her barrow down the parade, where her amusing powers of blarney, added to the freshness of her fish, sec

saw ut, though ye're growed such a foine young gintleman an' all. Ye was staying at No. 7 two years back with yer mamma-an illigant lady she was, too-and your

summer toime!" she had replied when Isobel once sounded her on the subject. "There's many a one as gives me an extra penny or two, or says, 'Kape the change, Biddy Mulligan!' The

cal-looking gentleman in a blue jacket came out to give warning of wet weather. Then there was the owner of the pleasure boats, who had promised to take her for a row entirely free of charge on the day before she was going home; and the bathing woman, who always tried to keep for her the van with the blue stripes and the brass hooks inside because she knew she liked it. The

one of them in Isobel's estimation could compare with Belle Stuart, who from the first had claimed her as her particular chum. The two managed to spend nearly the whole of every day together, sometimes in company with the other children, or someti

he thought it wouldn't matter just for this once. I told her your father had been an officer, and she said of course that made a difference, but I really was to be careful, and not p

ip. Mrs. Stewart, from somewhat different motives, was quite as particular as Belle's mother about chance acquaintances, and had been a little doubtful as to whether she was act

e able to distinguish the wheat from the chaff so much the better. Thus far I've perhaps guarded her too carefully, and this is an excellent opportunity of throwing her on her own resources. I think I can trust her to stick to what she knows is right, and not be led astray by any silly notions.

arried the heavy basket, searched for the lost ball, fetched forgotten articles, or did any of the countless small services which Belle exacted almost as a matter of course from those around her, it certainly was without any idea of complaint. There are in this world always those who love and those who are loved, and Isobel was ready with spendthrift generosity to offer her utmost in the way of friendship, finding Belle's pretty thanks and kisses a sufficient reward for any trouble she might take on her account, and perhaps unconsciously realizing that even in our affections it is the givers more than the receivers who are the truly

dge at the top of the bank, too, where grew the beautiful twining briony, with its dark leaves and glossy berries; and long trails of bramble, where a few early blackberries could be discovered if you cared to reach for them; and down among the sand at the bottom of the ditch you might find an occasional horned poppy, or the curious flowers and glaucous prickly leaves of the sea holly. Isobel, on the strength of a new bright-green tin vasculum, purchased only that very morning at th

eady, and I'm sure some of them must be rare-anyway, I've never seen them before. I'm going to press

er blue sash and hat ribbons). "It looks fearfully rotten. There! I told you it wouldn't hold,"

stressed her. "They'll brush off. But I must have the briony. I'

uld see our garden at home, full of lovely geraniums and fuchsias and lobelias, and the orchids and gloxinias in the conservator

hem yourself in the hedges, and there are so many kinds. It'

I think it's hateful-all about corollas, and stigmas, and panicles, an

then we press them and paste them into a book, and write the names underneath. We have eighty-seven different sorts at home, and I've found sixteen new ones since I came

y things which really enjoyed themselves were the grasshoppers, whose cheery chirpings kept up a perpetual concert. In the fields on either side the reapers had been busy, and tired-looking harvesters were hard at work binding the ye

s corduroy trousers tied up with wisps of straw, wiping his hot forehead on his shirt sleeves; the mother putting the baby to roll on the corn, while she poure

doubtfully, "I suppose they d

ecause the women often let me nurse the babies. Some of t

hey rathe

clean. Mother says she expects they know whic

white frocks and lace and corals," remarked Belle, "so

There were forty little babies in cots round a large room-such pets; and so happy, not one of them was crying. The nurse said they generally howl for a day or two a

ld of my pearl locket, and tugged it so hard she nearly strangled me, and broke the chain; and the locket fell into a pool, and I couldn't find it, though I hu

you found the

ll now; it's been hi

, and then let the children have it; and they picked blackberries into it, and stained it horribly. Why, there's Aggie Wrigh