Interrupted

fter the fashion of eager young ladies well acquainted with one another, and having important schemes to further. Occas

er hand out as if to open it wider, preparatory to departure, while she waited to say another of the many last things. Others were drawing wra

Award; you will attend to

re we to do abo

She is just the one to do it. Mrs.

efore the judge starts on his Southern trip! If we

e with my Turkish costume, you know. I h

younger

y recitation, won't you? Mamma says

nderous Doctor Wheelock and get his subscript

in from the outer world, and with part of her wraps still gathered about her, stood watchin

ng her the planning and the collecting and the drilling, and the greater

y, my dear, and is always to be depended on. Such p

er crimson tidy, while she listened a moment to the sound of Claire's voice, calmly and assuringly shouldering the burdens of work; promising here,

host in yourself! What we should do w

ou couldn't do without her! that is just all there would be about it! Two thirds of your nice plans, fo

but she works too hard. It is difficult to avoid that, with so many people depending on her I don't myself see how they would manage without her. You know Doctor Ellis feels much the same. He was telling your father, only last night, that there was not another young lady in the church on who

her. She thought, it is true, of the barely possible time when her eldest daughter might go out from this home into some other, and h

ly, just from one street in the same city to another, and much of the old life go on still; and in any event the mother could say "their loss," not mine; for the sense of possible separation had not come near enough to shadow the mother's heart as yet; she lived in the

girls in it who have wealth and leisure, and the peculiar talents required for leadership. Run over the list in your mind, and you will notice that those who have plenty of time would

but it seems to me they ought to remember that she has a body, as well as the others. Still, she will always work

he best she could; but I think I feel grateful that there

n never tell w

rue; I was speakin

but when she thought of her husband's wealth and position in the me

up in earnest, and, exclaiming over the lateness o

tty girl, afraid of her own decided capabilities, unless

well, Alice dear, and re

frightened young flower, and it brig

t; I don't want t

d with an air of satisfied weariness into one of t

too much on your shoulders, de

y getting interested in missions now, as well as in having a good time, that is what I am after,

, and I thought if I appeared, there would be so many questions to answ

did he say?" And Claire sat erect, her wear

nd she was presently

persons," was the

give directions for a certain package from a certain closet to be brought, and sent Dora to her room for her poc

be sure to come

Claire returned t

dozen or so. And that reminds me that Doctor Ellis wants to know if you will look in t

ht not to be neglected. Did he say at what hour? Oh, mamma, have you that broth ready for aunt Kate? I might go arou

accepted by Claire as a pleasant accessory to a winter walk; and it ended, as things were apt to end in that famil

mised to look in at Mr. Anstead's and make some arrangements for to-morrow's committee meeting

e then. We are to discover what the fruit of all this getting ready is;

s," sai

you dare to think that anything will be less than

u never notice, Claire, that it is impossible to

d, smiling, "but I did not know tha

in one thing, any way, 'how to perform I find not.' It is worse

not often troubled in the way you mention; my plans generally come out all right. Possibly because I have studied them from several sides, and foreseen and provided for hindrances. There is a great de

d smile on her face as she tripped briskly away. She was a skilfu

ck to the ge

literary entertainment. There will be no place for quiet, well-behaved people like you and me. What do you suppose is the matter with me? I feel like a croaker. If Claire h

sister, who took life doubtfully, and bristled with interrogation points, and dreamed while t

d gently. "It is right for her to rest in the b

morrow, mamma; there is

fter a

splendid, just as she al

ivested himself of his snowy great-coat, she had covered his

stood with a daughter on either side of him, with an arm

rthday comes in April, and there is very apt

d, kissing her fondly. "After a good night's rest

different ways," he said to the moth

rls fondly as he spoke, but the last

ready for a bright to-morr

etter in a storm; and I think we shall have a chance to try it. I think

the Benedict mansion was closed, and crape streamed from the doorknobs; and during all t