icon 0
icon TOP UP
rightIcon
icon Reading History
rightIcon
icon Log out
rightIcon
icon Get the APP
rightIcon

Nature's Serial Story

Chapter 2 AMY WINFIELD

Word Count: 3413    |    Released on: 29/11/2017

e different members of the family, as they in their several ways develop their own individuality. A remark from old Mr. Clifford indicates that an

o come to us; and yet, unless something unforeseen

y; "I'll meet her, and am glad of an excuse to go out th

n the operation. The little girl will feel strange enough, anyway, coming among people that she has never seen, and I don't intend that she shall be frightened out of her wits into the bargain by your harum-scarum ways. You'd give her the impression that we

d affection by the one who has the best right to represent me. I'd go myself, were not the cold so severe; but then Leonard's ways are almost as fatherly as my own

and put her under his wife's wing. I should probably misrepresent the family, and make

e the other children, and I have some nice little knick-knacks with which to fill it. These, and the gifts which the rest of

view of my friend's letters, this is the position that I desire her to sustain, and it will be the simplest and most natural relation f

istfully to the friend of his early manhood, and, as he recalled Mr. Clifford's rural home, he felt that he could desire no better refuge for his child. He had always written of her as his "little girl," and such she was in his fond eyes, although in fact she had seen eighteen summers. Her slight figure and girlish ways had never dispelled the illusion that

breathing, and spoke the hearty and encouraging words which are naturally addressed to a little girl. After seeing that her trunks were safely bestowed in a large box-sledge, under the charge of black Abram, one of the farm-hands, he drove rapidly homeward

you all by being larger a

rly kindness, had received the girl into open arms. Scarcely less demonstrative and affectionate was the gr

ed Leonard, "the child

can take breath. You shall unwrap in your own room, and feel from the start that you have a nook where no one can molest you or make you afraid, to which you can always retreat;" and she led the way to a snug apartment, where a

ong strangers," she murmured; "but

"You are at home as truly as I am. There is nothing halfway in this house. Do you know we all thought t

in the dark hazel eyes which Amy lifte

en are all eager to see you. You won't find much ice to break, and before the ev

on; but when your husband picked me up in his strong arms, and reassured me as if I were a little girl, my feeling of desolation began to pass away. Your greeting and dear old Mr. Clifford's have banished it altogether. I felt as if my own father were blessing me in the fr

in his impatience, and the little mother must not be kept waiting, either. You

s concerning one who must, from the intimate relations she would sustain, take from or add much to it. Therefore it was with a flutter of no ordinary expectancy that they waited for her appearance. The only one indifferent was Leonard's youngest boy, who, astride his grandpa's cane, was trotting quietly about, unrestricted in his gambols. Alfred had thawed out since his return from the station, and was eager to take the measure of a possible playmate; but, with the shyness of a boy who is to meet a "strange girl," he sought a partial cover behind his grandfather's chair. Little "Johnnie" was flitting about impatiently, with her least mutilated doll upon her arm; while her uncle Burtis, seated on a low stool by his mother's sofa, pretended to be

der, brown-haired girl quite a different welcome from the one they had expected to bestow upon a child. Old Mr. Clifford did not permit her embarrassment to last a moment, but, stepping hastily forward, and encircling her with his arm, he led her to his wife, who brought tears into the eyes of the motherless girl by the gentle warmth of her greeting. She monopolized her

xpect a little sister that I could romp with, and pick up and k

cause just once," Leonard remarked, laughin

ber of the family, to whom we all speak with bated breath. You must not expect him to get acquainted with you in any ordinary way. He will investigate you, and never rest until he has discovered all the hidden la

t hers drooped. "Sister Amy," he said, gently, "I was prepared to welcome you on general principles, but I now welcome you for yo

ll warm upon her cheek, that she felt a sense of rest and security never known before. "He will be my brother in very truth," was the interpretation which her heart gave

rse, will be frequent in this vale of tears. He will console you, Amy, by explaining how tears are formed, and how, by

tand Webb," was h

o widely, and only an occasion like this could have moved him. You must have unco

the world, and the arrival in its midst of the beautiful lady never seen before was as wonderful as any fairy tale. Indeed, that such a June-like creature should come to them that wintry day-that she had crossed the terrible ocean from a foreign realm far more remote, in the child's consciousness, than fairy-land

day in storybooks, don't they, Johnnie? Johnnie, you must know, has the advantage of the rest of us. She likes bread-and-butter, and kindred realities of our matter-of-fact sphere, but she also has a world

own mind, the sharp outlines of fact had shaded off into the manifold mysteries of wonderland. Therefore, with an

and perhaps something for dolly. I can't claim to be a fairy p

and disappointed. Thus far he had been overlooked, but he did not much care, for this great girl could be no companion for him. Amy, however, had woman's best grace-tact-and guessed his trouble. "Alf," she said, c

entering into his life. Mercurial Burtis, however, found nothing peculiar in his own pleasant sensations. He had a score of young lady friends, and was merely delighted to find in Amy a very attractive young woman, ins

aiting for you, and I think that, after you have broken bread with us, and have had a quiet sleep under the old roof, yo

heir life; and then followed the genial, unrestrained table-talk of a household that, as yet, possessed no closeted skeleton. The orphan sat among them, and her mourning weeds spoke of a great and recent sorrow, which might have been desolation, but already her kindling eyes and flushed cheeks proved that this strong, bright current of family life would have the power to carry her forward to a new, spring-like

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open
1 Chapter 1 A COUNTRY HOME2 Chapter 2 AMY WINFIELD3 Chapter 3 A COUNTRY FIRESIDE4 Chapter 4 GUNNING BY MOONLIGHT5 Chapter 5 CHRISTMAS EVE AND MORNING6 Chapter 6 NATURE'S HALF-KNOWN SECRETS7 Chapter 7 NEIGHBORS DROP IN8 Chapter 8 EAGLES9 Chapter 9 SLEIGHING IN THE HIGHLANDS10 Chapter 10 A WINTER THUNDER-STORM11 Chapter 11 NATURE UNDER GLASS12 Chapter 12 A MOUNTAINEER'S HOVEL13 Chapter 13 ALMOST A TRAGEDY14 Chapter 14 HINTS OF SPRING15 Chapter 15 NATURE'S BUILDING MATERIALS16 Chapter 16 GOSSIP ABOUT BIRD-NEIGHBORS17 Chapter 17 FISHING THROUGH THE ICE18 Chapter 18 PLANNING AND OPENING THE CAMPAIGN19 Chapter 19 WINTER'S EXIT20 Chapter 20 A ROYAL CAPTIVE21 Chapter 21 SPRING'S HARBINGERS22 Chapter 22 FIRST TIMES 23 Chapter 23 REGRETS AND DUCK-SHOOTING24 Chapter 24 APRIL25 Chapter 25 EASTER26 Chapter 26 VERY MOODY27 Chapter 27 SHAD-FISHING BY PROXY28 Chapter 28 MAY AND GIRLHOOD29 Chapter 29 XXIX NATURE'S WORKSHOP30 Chapter 30 SPRING-TIME PASSION31 Chapter 31 JUNE AND HONEY-BEES32 Chapter 32 BURT BECOMES RATIONAL33 Chapter 33 WEBB'S ROSES AND ROMANCE34 Chapter 34 CHASED BY A THUNDER-SHOWER35 Chapter 35 THE RESCUE OF A HOME36 Chapter 36 A MIDNIGHT TEMPEST37 Chapter 37 BURT'S ADVENTURE38 Chapter 38 A FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS39 Chapter 39 CAMPING OUT40 Chapter 40 AN OLD TENEMENT41 Chapter 41 BUT HE RISKED HIS LIFE 42 Chapter 42 SUMMER'S WEEPING FAREWELL43 Chapter 43 FATHER AND DAUGHTER44 Chapter 44 DISQUIET WITHIN AND WITHOUT45 Chapter 45 IDLEWILD46 Chapter 46 ECHOES OF A PAST STORM47 Chapter 47 IMPULSES OF THE HEART48 Chapter 48 WEBB'S FATEFUL EXPEDITION49 Chapter 49 BURT'S SORE DILEMMA50 Chapter 50 BURT'S RESOLVE51 Chapter 51 A GENTLE EXORCIST52 Chapter 52 BURT TELLS HIS LOVE AGAIN53 Chapter 53 WEBB'S FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER54 Chapter 54 OCTOBER HUES AND HARVESTS55 Chapter 55 THE MOONLIGHT OMEN56 Chapter 56 THE HOSE REVEALS ITS HEART57 Chapter 57 CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AND SHADOWS