Not Like Other Girls

was a great insti

orhood, lift up his voice against the mild feminine dram-drinking of these modern days, denouncing it in no measured terms: the ladies of Oldfield listened incredulously, and, softly quoting Cowper's lin

s the magic hour approached, people dropped in casually. The elder ladies sipped their tea and gossiped softly; the younger ones, if it were summer-time, strolled out

d there among the lanes and country roads. Some of the big houses belonged to very big people indeed; but these were aristocrats who only li

and good-natured. There was a wonderful simplicity of dress, too, which in these days might be termed a cardinal virtue. The girls wore their fresh cambrics 8 and plain straw hats: no one seemed to think it ne

und of youthful voices and laughter were the loudest, was Glen Cottage, a small white house adjoining

ng but the most modest of entertainments could be furnished to their friends; very different from their neighbors at Longmead, the large white

hey will not do to please their own flesh and blood? and, as young Richard Mayne-or Dick, as he was always called-loved all such festive gatherings, Mrs. Mayne loved them too; and her hu

nto the pleasant drawing-room where Mrs. Challoner sat tranquilly summer and winter to welcome her friends, or betook t

d her sisters dispensed strawberries and cream, with the delicious home-made bread and butter; while Mrs. Challoner sat among a few chosen s

s were ever so much to their mother as hers; she simply lived in and for them; she saw with their eyes

had been braced by his influence and cheered by his example, and had sought to guide her children according to his 9 directions; in

own to her children's level. She was more like their sister than thei

' eyes; her widowhood, and a certain failure of he

ntioned the name of a disease of which certain symptoms reminded him. There was no ground for present apprehension; the whole thi

l action to her daughters. It was they who decided and regulated the affairs of their modest household, and rarely were such wise young rulers to be found in girls of their age. Mrs. Challoner merely ac

ogether. Her features were more regular than her sisters', and her color more transparent. She was tall too, and her figure had a certain wi

ng in her expression that made people say she was clever; she could talk on occasions with a fluency that was q

sters treated as the family pet; who was light and small and nimb

not, or cared to do such a thing. Only when she smiled, the prettiest dimple came into her

them; and there was no denying Mrs. Challoner was still wonderfully well pr

e visitors had dispersed as usual, and the girls had come in to prepare for the half-past seven-o'clock dinner; for Glen Cottage foll

ther, but Nan carried her racquet a lit

ing and looked at them, and then s

ed any of her mother's movements. "Ten minutes

colored, but took no further notice. "By the bye," she continued, as though struck by a sudden recollect

bell sounded, and was immediately followed by sharp footsteps on the grav

?" in a slightly injured voice. But Mrs. Challoner merely smiled at him, and said nothing; young men were

ung fellow, with broad shoulders, not much above middle height, and decidedly pla

and a pair of honest eyes that people learned to trust. Every one liked him, and no one ever said a word in his d

er to our place, and of course the mater pressed him to stay for lunc

ith a pout. "You tiresome Dick, when you must know wha

reproved

. "Think how pleased Carrie and Sophy Paine would have bee

ways is here, and that he would be sure to meet a lot of nice people, but there was no persuading him: he w

her sprightliness all at once. "It is very good of you to come so o

Phillis, tranquilly. "Mother, now Dick

eturned Dick; but his in

rward to open the door. It was Nan who always dispensed the hospitalities of the house, whose decision was unalterable. Dick had learned what it was to be sent about his business; only o

him. When the girls had flitted into the little dusky hall he closed the door, and sat down happily bedside

seen him grow up among them until he had become like a son of the house. Dick, who had no brothers and sisters of his own, and whose parents had not married until they were long past youth, h

w it seemed to have deepened into greater manliness. Dick was growing older; 12 Oxford training was polishing him. After each one of his brief absences Nan saw a greater change, a more marked deference, and secretly hoped that no one else noticed it. When the young undergraduate w

the Oxford terms; but she never breathed a syllable that might make people suspect that this very ordinary young man with the sandy hair was more to her than other youn

sighed more than once, and her attention visibly wandered; seeing which, Dick good-humor

ngmead; and somehow it never had looked cosier to him than it did this evening. It was somewhat dark, owing to the shade of the veranda: so the lamp was lighted, and the pleasant scent of roses and lilies came through the open windows. A belated wasp hovered round the specimen glasses that Nan had filled;

mother discussing?" a

ery superior young man," returned Mrs. Challoner. "I

t her for that. If it were not for father, I think she would turn the

in your honor," exclaim

erfect shame that a fellow cannot come of age quietly, without his people mak

afraid of the supper speeches," laug

ll give us one in the winter, and we will have Godf

parkled,-already she saw herself led out for the first

o stupid about it. No one knows what may hap

is worth two in the

ead. "Don't you remember, Nan, when the Parkers' dance was put off, and then old Mr. Parker d

off a dance, in ca

h dreadful things. After all, it is such delicious weather that I am not sure a garden-party

at extremely troublesome young person, at

g Dick, who visibly brightened at this, "I shall recommend her to empty the front drawing-room as much as possible. There is the grand piano, or the band m

cing was imperative, and if the lawns were wet they must manage in-doors somehow. "It would never do for people to be bored and listless," finished the young lady,

such as the arrangements of the tennis-matches in the large meadow, and the exact 14 position of the m

sort of thing does make a fel

hborhood will expect something of the kind, and we owe a little to other people; then it please

all, one has an awful lot to go through in life: there are the measles, you know, and whooping cough, and the dentist, and one's examination, and no end of unpleasant things; but to be made