Not Like Other Girls
rty at the Paines' on one of these days, but at the last minute they had excused themselves. Nan's prettily-worded note was declared very vague and unsatisfactory, and o
alone, looking ve
ning, she explained in rather a confused way: they
her awkwardly, that it was on business; her mother was not well,-oh, very far from wel
that something lay behind. They went out in the garden, however, and chose sides for their game of tennis; and, though Dulce had never
on of a second game. "No, we will not stay any longer," observed Isabella Twentyman, kissing the gi
ite know how it is," added Miss Sartoris, good-nature
as they walked down the village street, s
d Sophy Paine would have money. "None of them will have to work," said poor Dulce sorrowfully to herself: "they can go on playing tennis an
Sartoris, as soon as they were out of sight of the cottage; "no one has seen anythi
uniary embarrassment at the bottom. "Poor little thing, she did seem rather subdued. How many people do you
tain her friends, Nan and Phill
ore three. They went first to 70 Beach House,-a small unpretending house on the Parade, k
pretty nearly filled, she told them proudly; the drawing-room had bee
tle side parlor where you could have your tea and breakfast." And when Nan had thanked her, and suggeste
Nan pleaded for one turn on the Parade. She wanted a gl
les and gleams of light, and white sails glimmered on the horizon. Some boatmen were dragging a boat down the beach; it grated noisily over the pebbles. A merry party were about to embark,-a
houses with the green before them and that sweet Sussex border of soft feathery tamarisk, and then past the cricket-field, and down to the white
ey passed. Nan's sweet bloom and graceful carriage always attracted notice; and Phillis, alt
hite moustache, who was standing at the Library door waiting for his daughter to make some p
by;" and Miss Middleton smiled as she took her father's arm, for she was slightly lame. She knew strangers always
lis, when they had passed. "She was quite young,
than she looks," retu
e was far too busily engaged iden
, looking over a strip of garden-ground full of marigolds! "Marigolds-all-in-a-row Cottage," she had named it in her home letters. It was nearly opposite t
the low stone walls with grassy mounds slopping from them, and a belt of shr
ins; a white house stood far back. There were two or three other houses, and a cottage dotted dow
away from the town, and that our neigh
with placid opposition. "It is a pity, under the circumstances, t
when it suddenly opened, and a tall, grave looking young man, in clerica
hen they had gone a few steps. "You know poor old Dr. M
clergyman still standing by the green door watching them. "It is a shabby, dull old house in front; but I remember that when mother and I returned Mrs. Mu
used before another green door, set in a long blank wall; "for here we are at the
regrets, would be left outside when they crossed the threshold? The thought of the empty rooms, not yet swept and garnished, made her shiver: the upper windows looked blank
ately, as they went up the little flagged path, bordered with lilac-bushes. "It feels like a minia
hat made it dark and decidedly damp. This brought them to a little lawn, with tall, rank grass that might have been mown for hay, and some side-beds full of old fashioned flowers, such as lupins and monkshood, pinks and
and beyond this a small kitchen-garden, with abundance of gooseberry and cur
after our dear old Glen Cottage garden!" And in sp
ngs,-and I don't deny they are horrid,-and put all the rest away, between lavender, on the
it would look when the lawn was mown, and all the weeds and oyster-shells re
ttage," she remarked, with a wave of her hand: "it only wants training and nailing up.
rk. The kitchen came first: it was a tolerable-sized apartment, with two
he name of Friary was well given to this gruesome cottage; but she cheered up when Phillis opened cupboards
garden: one had three windows, and
s. "Oh, what an ugly paper, Nan! but we can easily put up a prettier one. The smaller room must be where we live and take our meals: it is not qu
m in the cottage; it was decidedly low, and the windows were not plate-glass, but she thought that o
ed wardrobe in the recess behind the door. It is really a magnificent piece of furniture, and in a work-room it would not be so out of place; we could hang up the finished and unfinished dresses in it out of the dust. And we could have the little drawing-room chiffonnier between the windows for our pieces, and odds and ends in the cupboards.
ice, when they had exhausted its capabilities; and, though the second parl
couch that their mother so much affected, and their favorite chairs and knick-kna
eerful one was, of course, allotted to their mother, and the next in size m
, was for hurrying on to Beach House; but Phillis insisted on calling at the Library. She wanted to put some questions to Miss Milner. To-
followed Phillis into the shop, where good-nat
ver the counter. The same young clergyman they had before noticed had just bought a local paper,
is paper at once. "Miss Monks was a tolerable fit, but, poor thing! she died a few weeks ago; and Mrs. Slasher, who lives over Viner's the haberdasher's, cannot ho
inaudible; but the young lady who was
en, and I am anxious to procure her work-" and then she looked at Nan, and hesitated; "that is, if you are not very particular," she add
Miss Milner, gratefully. "Shall I w
rned Nan, hurriedly, feeling awkward for the first time in her life.
ll in again, Miss Milner, to-morrow morning, and then I will explain what it is we really want. We are in a hurry n
y plain, but with an odd, comical face; and she was dressed so dowdily and with such utte
she belongs to him?" she asked Nan, as
slowly in the strangers' footsteps. "That is just your way, Mattie, interfering and meddling in other folks' affairs. Why
a sharp little pecking voice that seemed to match her, somehow; for she was not unlike a bright-ey
r, in an annoyed voice. "What would Grace say to see what a fright you make of yourself? It is a sin and a shame for a
compliments, for she merely pinned her
s Mrs. Langley had better make me a dress too," with a laugh, for, in spite of her sharp voi
of recommending a person like Mrs. Langley to tho
tely; for, if there was one thing upon which she prided herself, it was her good sense. "Th
n restored him to instant good humor. "If you cannot see the difference between that frumpish gown of yours, with
gown," returned M
e was a very active, bustling little person, who had done a great deal of tough work in her day, but she never could be made to see that
er, who loved feminine grace and repose,-whose tastes were fastidious and somewhat arbitrary. And so it was poor Mattie had more censure than praise, and wrote home piteous letter
?" exclaimed Nan, when they were at last discussing the muc
nearly empty; but some children's voices sounded from the green space before the houses. The brown sail of a fishing craft d
n a moment's reprieve; the corners of
man was peeping at us between the folds of his paper. He seemed a nice-looking, gentlemanly sort of man. Do you think that queer little lad
rked Nan, absently, who had
andsome, and looked rather distinguished. You know I always take stock of people,
hey placed themselves at the open window, and began to talk about the business of next day; and, in discussing cupboards an