Under the Lilacs

rooded over the fine etching of the dead and dying horses on a battle-field, one past all further pain, the other helples

back to the cheerful picture of the three happy horses in the field, stan

all feller trotting down to see if he can't get over and be sociable. How I'd like to take a rousin' run round th

will be here next week," said Miss Celia, pleased to see that the boy appreciated the fine p

the book you told about, where the horses talked?" asked Ben, suddenl

of my tea-party forgot to unpack it. I'l

! Squire sent you a letter; and I'm having

; and as she read her face grew so sober, then so sad, that if any one had been looking he would have wondered what bad news had chased away the sunshine so suddenly. No one did look; no one saw how pitifully her eyes rested on Ben's happy face when the lette

y play, she took her brother in to bed, the three who remained fell to prai

use," said Betty, enjoying a last hug of the fascinating doll whose lids would shut so that i

oesn't mind how many questions we ask. I like folks that will tel

me to teach him to ride when he's on his pins again, and Miss Celia says I may. She knows how to make folks feel

e Says we may come over every nig

he porch lift up, so we can put our thin

ere all the time. I guess the letter I b

y made up my mind to keep you befo

th her hand on Ben's shoulder, made him look up quickly and turn r

y Baby home for the night. She is so nicely asleep, it is a pity to wake her. Good by til

y trotted off in a silent rapture with t

o settle with my new man. Tell

ep, Miss Celia took out the letters, with a shadow creeping over her face as softly as the t

an, slowly; and the boy waited with a happy face

your father, and this is the

n offer him the letter, but sat looking down at Sancho on the lower step, as if she wanted him t

far as California, and if he did he'd send for me. I'd

ntry than California, I hope." And Miss Celia's eyes t

g back?" asked Ben, quickly; for there was a quiver in he

ery tenderly,-"Ben, dear, if I were to tell you t

m, he isn't dead?" cried Ben, with a cry that mad

e boy, I wish

he was an orphan now, and turned instinctively to the old friend who loved him best.

r coming back again;

b love and sympathy and sorrow that they seemed almost human. Wiping away her own tears, Miss Celia stooped to pat the white head, and to stroke

about it; I

ld be unfitted for the work they gave him. Of Ben Brown the elder's death there was little to tell, except that he was killed in some wild place at the West, and a stranger wrote the fact to the only person whose nam

, hoping to distract his mind from h

n't send me back! Let me stay here; folks are good to me; there's nowhere else to go." And the head Ben had lif

; and we will stand by one another till a stronger friend comes to help us," said Miss Celia, with such a mixture of resolution and tenderness in her voice, that Ben felt comforted at once, and thanked her by

paw upon her knee, with a low whine, as if he said, "Count

e good creature crouched at her feet like a small

ooping to wipe away the great drops that kept rolling down the brown cheek half hidden in

im! Oh, daddy! daddy! if I'd

, that involuntarily the boy stopped his crying to listen; then quieter tears dropped slowly, seeming to soothe his pain as they fell, while the se

y into their gentle keeping. The wind had sung a lullaby among the rustling lilacs, the moon's mild face looked through the leafy arch to kiss the heavy eyelids, and