Bosom Friends

ruth to out

h it may n

s she had not yet received any reply to the letter which she had di

tting to get hold of his money? I would not touch one penny of it for myself, but I think it is only right and fair that Isobel should be sent to a really good school. It would be such a small expense to him out of his large income, and it is simply impossible for me to manage it. I have done my best for her so far, but she is so

itting-room at No. 4 Marine Terrace. As the lonely hours passed away, the lines of trouble deepened in her forehead, and she stitched so many cares i

t glorious holiday she had spent in her life, and her jolly times with the Sea Urchins, and especially the delight of her friendship with Bell

about me, actually trying to make out I was selfish, just because I wanted her to do one or two little things for me that you don't mind doing in the least. She splashed sea-water all over my b

cial friend; she knows them both at home, and goes to all their parties. Charlotte Wright says it's too hot to last, but that's just because Aggie was jealous that Belle didn't ask her to go to tea the day

leman, with iron-gray hair and a long, drooping moustache; he held himself erect, too, as if he were at parade, and he had that air of quiet dignity and command which is habitual to those who are accustomed to seeing their orders promptly obeyed. Whether he was merely enjoying the fresh air and scenery, or whether h

h they hoped might follow in course of time. She spread out her pretty pink muslin dress carefully upon the seat, rearranged her hat to her satisfaction, and slowly fastened the buttons of her long kid gloves. It was too early to go home yet, she thought, for her mother was out with friends, and their tea-time was not until five o'clock, so she sat wat

se, that was only a scheme on the mother's part to try and arouse my interest in her. What the letter said is true enough, all the same: if she's my grandchild it isn't right that she should be brought up in penury, and I suppose I must send her to school, or provide in some wa

l degree of interest in her companion at the other end of the bench. Constantly petted and admired by her mother's friends, she was accustomed to receive a good deal of attention, and it struck her that a short chat with this distinguished-looking stranger might beguile her monotony until tea-time. She therefore let her fluffy curls fall round her face in the way that an artist had on

is mind, and kept silence. Somewhat disappointed, Belle nevertheless was not easily baffled, and after having sighed, coughed, opened and shut her parasol, taken off her gloves and put them on again, thereby exhibiting the small turquoise ring that was her greatest delight, and

r "Parisian" manner. "It was so careless of me to drop it, and I wouldn't hav

el. "It certainly isn't wise to send y

ays sent me books before, the most terrible ones: Shakespeare, and Lamb's 'Essays,' and Ruskin, and stupid things like that, which I shan't ever care to read, even when I'm grown up-so this birt

at Belle could not make out whether he sympathized or not; but as he pu

a fortnight. We think the air's bracing, and the lodgings are reall

ying in Mari

at all. Mother looked at some of them first, but there were such dreadfully vulgar children stopping th

r name

me somehow seems to suit me better. Last winter I went to a party dressed all in b

take the opportunity to put in a compliment; but h

otch, although our name's Stuart. My father was English. I can't remember him pr

owled the col

know him? He was very tall and fair, mother says, and so handsome. She

ns? Is it all parties and trinkets, or do you

eling rather hurt at his tone. "I learn French, and drawin

h do you

of us did a skirt dance at the cavalry bazaar last winter, and I was the Queen of the Butterflies. I had a white dress lined with yellow and turquoise, and I shook it out like this when I danced, to show the colours. People clapped ever so much, and it

rked the colonel, almost as if he were thinking aloud. "It ought to be history and geography, in

iated, she had an uneasy sensation that the old gentleman was making fun of her; and as this was not at all to her taste, s

what she hoped was rather a chilling ma

even to say good-bye. Colonel Stewart sat watching her as sh

ut like a ballet dancer! She's pretty enough in a superficial kind of way-the sort of beauty you get in a doll, with neither mind nor soul behind it. She worthy of the