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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thistle and Rose, by Amy Walton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Thistle and Rose
+       A Story for Girls
+
+Author: Amy Walton
+
+Illustrator: R. Barnes
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2007 [EBook #21229]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THISTLE AND ROSE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Thistle and Rose
+A Story for Girls
+
+By Amy Walton
+________________________________________________________________________
+A gently moving story for girls.  Anna is aged fifteen, and her father
+needs to go abroad on business for a while.  Her mother had died before
+Anna could remember.  Anna is to go to Dornton to stay while her father
+is away, and she is looking forward to meeting her relatives, including
+her grandfather, who had been estranged from her father for many years.
+
+The grandfather is living quietly in a small house "with no servants"
+and has a job as organist in Dornton church.  He is well-known as an
+excellent teacher of music, especially the violin.
+
+The story goes on from there.  The book is not a long one, and the
+audiobook takes a little over four hours. NH
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+THISTLE AND ROSE
+A STORY FOR GIRLS
+
+BY AMY WALTON
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE PICTURE.
+
+  A countenance in which did meet
+  Sweet records, promises as sweet.
+
+  Wordsworth.
+
+"And so, my dear Anna, you really leave London to-morrow!"
+
+"By the ten o'clock train," added an eager voice, "and I shan't get to
+Dornton until nearly five.  Father will go with me to Paddington, and
+then I shall be alone all the way.  My very first journey by myself--and
+such a long one!"
+
+"You don't seem to mind the idea," said the governess, with a glance at
+her pupil's bright, smiling face.  "You don't mind leaving all the
+people and things you have been used to all your life?"
+
+Anna tried to look grave.  "I see so little of father, you know," she
+said, "and I'm sure I shall like the country better than London.  I
+shall miss _you_, of course, dear Miss Milverton," she added quickly,
+bending forward to kiss her governess.
+
+Miss Milverton gave a little shake of the head, as she returned the
+kiss; perhaps she did not believe in being very much missed.
+
+"You are going to new scenes and new people," she said, "and at your
+age, Anna, it is easier to forget than to remember.  I should like to
+think, though, that some of our talks and lessons during the last seven
+years might stay in your mind."
+
+She spoke wistfully, and her face looked rather sad.  As she saw it,
+Anna felt ungrateful to be so glad to go away, and was ready to promise
+anything.  "Oh, of course they will," she exclaimed.  "Indeed, I will
+never forget what you have told me.  I couldn't."
+
+"You have lived so very quietly hitherto," continued Miss Milverton,
+"that it will be a new thing for you to be thrown with other people.
+They will be nearly all strangers to you at Waverley, I think?"
+
+"There will be Aunt Sarah and Uncle John at the Rectory," said Anna.
+"Aunt Sarah, of course, I know; but I've never seen Uncle John.  He's
+father's brother, you know.  Then there's Dornton; that's just a little
+town near.  I don't know any one there, but I suppose Aunt Sarah does.
+Waverley's quite in the country, with a lovely garden--oh, I do so long
+to see it!"
+
+"You will make friends, too, of your own age, I daresay," said Miss
+Milverton.
+
+"Oh, I hope so," said Anna earnestly.  "It has been so dull here
+sometimes!  After you go away in the afternoon there's nothing to do,
+and when father dines out there's no one to talk to all the evening.
+You can't think how tired I get of reading."
+
+"Well, it will be more cheerful and amusing for you at Waverley, no
+doubt," said Miss Milverton, "and I hope you will be very happy there;
+but what I want to say to you is this: Try, whether you are at Waverley
+or wherever you are, to value the best things in yourself and others."
+
+Anna's bright eyes were gazing over the blind into the street, where a
+man with a basket of flowers on his head was crying, "All a-blowing and
+a-growing."  In the country she would be able to pick flowers instead of
+buying them.  She smiled at the thought, and said absently, "Yes, Miss
+Milverton."  Miss Milverton's voice, which always had a regretful sound
+in it, went steadily on, while Anna's bright fancies danced about gaily.
+
+"It is so easy to value the wrong things most.  They often look so
+attractive, and the best things lie so deeply hidden from us.  And yet,
+to find them out and treasure them, and be true to them, makes the
+difference between a worthy and an unworthy life.  If you look for them,
+my dear Anna, you will find them.  My last wish before we part is, that
+you may be quick to see, and ready to do them honour, and to prize them
+as they should be prized.  Bless you, my dear!"
+
+Miss Milverton had felt what she said so deeply, that the tears stood in
+her eyes, as she finished her speech and kissed her pupil for the last
+time.
+
+Anna returned the kiss affectionately, and as she followed her governess
+out into the hall and opened the door for her, she was quite sorry to
+think that she had so often been tiresome at her lessons.  Perhaps she
+had helped to make Miss Milverton's face so grave and her voice so sad.
+Now she should not see her any more, and there was no chance of doing
+better.
+
+For full five minutes after she had waved a last good-bye, Anna remained
+in a sober mood, looking thoughtfully at all the familiar, dingy objects
+in the schoolroom, where she and Miss Milverton had passed so many
+hours.  It was not a cheerful room.  Carpet, curtains, paper, everything
+in it had become of one brownish-yellow hue, as though the London fog
+had been shut up in it, and never escaped again.  Even the large globes,
+which stood one on each side of the fireplace, had the prevailing tinge
+over their polished, cracked surfaces; but as Anna's eye fell on these,
+her heart gave a sudden bound of joy.  She would never have to do
+problems again!  She would never have to pass any more dull hours in
+this room, with Miss Milverton's grave face opposite to her, and the
+merest glimpses of sunshine peering in now and then over the brown
+blinds.  No more sober walks in Kensington Gardens, where she had so
+often envied the ragged children, who could play about, and laugh, and
+run, and do as they liked.  There would be freedom now, green fields,
+flowers, companions perhaps of her own age.  Everything new, everything
+gay and bright, no more dullness, no more tedious days--after all, she
+was glad, very glad!
+
+It was so pleasant to think of, that she could not help dancing round
+and round the big table all alone, snapping her fingers at the globes as
+she passed them.  When she was tired, she flung herself into Miss
+Milverton's brown leather chair, and looked up at the clock, which had
+gone soberly on its way as though nothing were to be changed in Anna's
+life.  She felt provoked with its placid face.  "To-morrow at this
+time," she said to it, half aloud, "I shan't be here, and Miss Milverton
+won't be here, and I shall be seeing new places and new people, and--oh,
+I do wonder what it will all be like!"
+
+The clock ticked steadily on, regardless of anything but its own
+business.  Half-past six!  Miss Milverton had stayed longer than usual.
+Anna began to wonder what time her father would be home.  They were to
+dine together on this, their last evening, but Mr Forrest was so
+absorbed in his preparations for leaving England that he was likely to
+be very late.  Perhaps he would not be in till eight o'clock, and even
+then would have his mind too full of business to talk much at dinner,
+and would spend the evening in writing letters.  Anna sighed.  There
+were some questions she very much wanted to ask him, and this would be
+her only chance.  To-morrow she was to go to Waverley, and the next day
+Mr Forrest started for America, and she would not see him again for two
+whole years.
+
+It was strange to think of, but not altogether sad from Anna's point of
+view, for her father was almost a stranger to her.  He lived a life
+apart, into which she had never entered: his friends, his business, his
+frequent journeys abroad, occupied him fully, and he was quite content
+that Anna's welfare should be left in the hands of Miss Milverton, her
+daily governess.  It was Aunt Sarah who recommended Miss Milverton to
+the post, which she had now filled, with ceaseless kindness and
+devotion, for seven years.  "You will find her invaluable," Mrs Forrest
+had said to her brother-in-law, and so she was.  When Anna was ill, she
+nursed her; when she wanted change of air, she took her to the sea-side;
+she looked after her both in body and mind, with the utmost
+conscientiousness.  But there was one thing she could not do: she could
+not be an amusing companion for a girl of fifteen, and Anna had often
+been lonely and dull.
+
+Now that was all over.  A sudden change had come into her life.  The
+London house was to be given up, her father was going away, and she was
+to be committed to Aunt Sarah's instruction and care for two whole
+years.  Waverley and Aunt Sarah, instead of London and Miss Milverton!
+It was a change indeed, in more than one way, for although Anna was
+nearly fifteen, she had never yet stayed in the country; her ideas of it
+were gathered from books, and from what she could see from a railway
+carriage, as Miss Milverton and she were carried swiftly on their way to
+the sea-side for their annual change of air.  She thought of it all now,
+as she sat musing in the old brown chair.
+
+It had often seemed strange that Aunt Sarah, who arranged everything,
+and to whom appeal was always made in matters which concerned Anna,
+should never have asked her to stay at Waverley before.  Certainly there
+were no children at the Rectory, but still it would have been natural,
+she thought, for was not Uncle John her father's own brother, and she
+had never even seen him!
+
+Aunt Sarah came to London occasionally and stayed the night, and had
+long talks with Mr Forrest and Miss Milverton, but she had never hinted
+at a visit from Anna.
+
+When, a little later, her father came bustling in, with a preoccupied
+pucker on his brow, and his most absent manner, she almost gave up all
+idea of asking questions.  Dinner passed in perfect silence, and she was
+startled when Mr Forrest suddenly mentioned the very place that was in
+her mind.
+
+"Well, Anna," he said, "I've been to Waverley to-day."
+
+"Oh, father, have you?" she answered eagerly.
+
+Mr Forrest sipped his wine reflectively.
+
+"How old are you?" he asked.
+
+"Fifteen next August," replied Anna.
+
+"Then," he continued, half to himself, "it must be over sixteen years
+since I saw Waverley and Dornton."
+
+"Are they just the same?" asked his daughter; "are they pretty places?"
+
+"Waverley's pretty enough.  Your Uncle John has built another room, and
+spoilt the look of the old house, but that's the only change I can see."
+
+"And Dornton," said Anna, "what is that like?"
+
+"Dornton," said Mr Forrest absently--"Dornton is the same dull little
+hole of a town I remember it then."
+
+"Oh," said Anna in a disappointed voice.
+
+"There's a fine old church, though, and the river's nice enough.  I used
+to know every turn in that river.--Well," rising abruptly and leaning
+his arm against the mantel-piece, "it's a long while ago--a long while
+ago--it's like another life."
+
+"Used you to stay often at Waverley?"  Anna ventured to ask presently.
+
+Mr Forrest had fallen into a day-dream, with his eyes fixed on the
+ground.  He looked up when Anna spoke as though he had forgotten her
+presence.
+
+"It was there I first met your mother," he said, "or rather, at Dornton.
+We were married in Dornton church."
+
+"Oh," said Anna, very much interested, "did mother live at Dornton?  I
+never knew that."
+
+"And that reminds me," said Mr Forrest, taking a leather case out of
+his pocket, and speaking with an effort, "I've something I want to give
+you before you go away.  You may as well have it now.  To-morrow we
+shall be both in a hurry.  Come here."
+
+He opened the case and showed her a small round portrait painted on
+ivory.  It was the head of a girl of eighteen, exquisitely fair, with
+sweet, modest-looking eyes.  "Your mother," he said briefly.
+
+Anna almost held her breath.  She had never seen a picture of her mother
+before, and had very seldom heard her mentioned.
+
+"How lovely!" she exclaimed.  "May I really have it to keep?"
+
+"I had it copied for you from the original," said Mr Forrest.
+
+"Oh, father, thank you so much," said Anna earnestly.  "I do so love to
+have it."
+
+Mr Forrest turned away suddenly, and walked to the window.  He was
+silent for some minutes, and Anna stood with the case in her hand, not
+daring to speak to him.  She had an instinct that it was a painful
+subject.
+
+"Well," he said at last, "I need not tell you to take care of it.  When
+I come back you'll be nearly as old as she was when that was painted.  I
+can't hope more than that you may be half as good and beautiful."
+
+Anna gazed earnestly at the portrait.  There were some words in tiny
+letters beneath it: "Priscilla Goodwin," she read, "aged eighteen."
+
+Priscilla!  A soft, gentle sort of name, which seemed to suit the face.
+
+If father wanted me to look like this, she thought to herself, he
+shouldn't have called me "Anna."  How could any one named Anna grow so
+pretty!
+
+"Why was I named Anna?" she asked.
+
+"It was your mother's wish," replied Mr Forrest.  "I believe it was her
+mother's name."
+
+"Is my grandmother alive?" said Anna.
+
+"No; she died years before I ever saw your mother.  Your grandfather,
+old Mr Goodwin, is living still--at Dornton."
+
+"At Dornton!" exclaimed Anna in extreme surprise.  "Then why don't I go
+to stay with him while you're away, instead of at Waverley?"
+
+"Because," said Mr Forrest, turning from the window to face his
+daughter, "it has been otherwise arranged."
+
+Anna knew that tone of her father's well; it meant that she had asked an
+undesirable question.  She was silent, but her eager face showed that
+she longed to hear more.
+
+"Your grandfather and I have not been very good friends," said Mr
+Forrest at length, "and have not met for a good many years--but you're
+too young to understand all that.  He lives in a very quiet sort of way.
+Once, if he had chosen, he might have risen to a different position.
+But he didn't choose, and he remains what he has been for the last
+twenty years--organist of Dornton church.  He has great musical talent,
+I've always been told, but I'm no judge of that."
+
+These new things were quite confusing to Anna; it was difficult to
+realise them all at once.  The beautiful, fair-haired mother, whose
+picture she held in her hand, was not so strange.  But her grandfather!
+She had never even heard of his existence, and now she would very soon
+see him and talk to him.  Her thoughts, hitherto occupied with Waverley
+and the Rectory, began to busy themselves with the town of Dornton, the
+church where her mother had been married, and the house where she had
+lived.
+
+"Aunt Sarah knows my grandfather, of course," she said aloud.  "He will
+come to Waverley, and I shall go sometimes to see him at Dornton?"
+
+"Oh, no doubt, no doubt, your aunt will arrange all that," said Mr
+Forrest wearily.  "And now you must leave me, Anna; I've no time to
+answer any more questions.  Tell Mary to take a lamp into the study, and
+bring me coffee.  I have heaps of letters to write, and people to see
+this evening."
+
+"Your aunt will arrange all that!"  What a familiar sentence that was.
+Anna had heard it so often that she had come to look upon Aunt Sarah as
+a person whose whole office in life was to arrange and settle the
+affairs of other people, and who was sure to do it in the best possible
+way.
+
+When she opened her eyes the next morning, her first movement was to
+feel under her pillow for the case which held the picture of her mother.
+She had a half fear that she might have dreamt all that her father had
+told her.  No.  It was real.  The picture was there.  The gentle face
+seemed to smile at her as she opened the case.  How nice to have such a
+beautiful mother!  As she dressed, she made up her mind that she would
+go to see her grandfather directly she got to Waverley.  What would he
+be like?  Her father had spoken of his musical talent in a half-pitying
+sort of way.  Anna was not fond of music, and she very much hoped that
+her grandfather would not be too much wrapped up in it to answer all her
+questions.  Well, she would soon find out everything about him.  Her
+reflections were hurried away by the bustle of departure, for Mr
+Forrest, though he travelled so much, could never start on a journey
+without agitation and fuss, and fears as to losing his train.  So, for
+the next hour, until Anna was safely settled in a through carriage for
+Dornton, with her ticket in her purse, a benevolent old lady opposite to
+her, and the guard prepared to give her every attention, there was no
+time to realise anything, except that she must make haste.
+
+"Well, I think you're all right now," said Mr Forrest, with a sigh of
+relief, as he rested from his exertions.  "Look out for your aunt on the
+platform at Dornton; she said she would meet you herself.--Why," looking
+at his watch, "you don't start for six minutes.  We needn't have hurried
+after all.  Well, there's no object in waiting, as I'm so busy; so I'll
+say good-bye now.  Remember to write when you get down.  Take care of
+yourself."
+
+He kissed his daughter, and was soon out of sight in the crowded
+station.  Anna had now really begun her first journey out into the
+world.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+DORNTON.
+
+A bird of the air shall carry the matter.
+
+On the same afternoon as that on which Anna was travelling towards
+Waverley, Mrs Hunt, the doctor's wife in Dornton, held one of her
+working parties.  This was not at all an unusual event, for the ladies
+of Dornton and the neighbourhood had undertaken to embroider some
+curtains for their beautiful old church, and this necessitated a weekly
+meeting of two hours, followed by the refreshment of tea, and
+conversation.  The people of Dornton were fond of meeting in each
+other's houses, and very sociably inclined.  They met to work, they met
+to read Shakespeare, they met to sing and to play the piano, they met to
+discuss interesting questions, and they met to talk.  It was not,
+perhaps, so much what they met to do that was the important thing, as
+the fact of meeting.
+
+"So pleasant to _meet_, isn't it?" one lady would say to the other.
+"I'm not very musical, you know, but I've joined the glee society,
+because it's an excuse for _meeting_."
+
+And, certainly, of all the houses in Dornton where these meetings were
+held, Dr Hunt's was the favourite.  Mrs Hunt was so amiable and
+pleasant, the tea was so excellent, and the conversation of a most
+superior flavour.  There was always the chance, too, that the doctor
+might look in for a moment at tea-time, and though he was discretion
+itself, and never gossiped about his patients, it was interesting to
+gather from his face whether he was anxious, or the reverse, as to any
+special case.
+
+This afternoon, therefore, Mrs Hunt's drawing-room presented a busy and
+animated scene.  It was a long, low room, with French windows, through
+which a pleasant old garden, with a wide lawn and shady trees, glimpses
+of red roofs beyond, and a church tower, could be seen.  Little tables
+were placed at convenient intervals, holding silk, scissors, cushions
+full of needles and pins, and all that could be wanted for the work in
+hand, which was to be embroidered in separate strips; over these many
+ladies were already deeply engaged, though it was quite early, and there
+were still some empty seats.
+
+"Shall we see Mrs Forrest this afternoon?" asked one of those who sat
+near the hostess at the end of the room.
+
+"I think not," replied Mrs Hunt, as she greeted a new-comer; "she told
+me she had to drive out to Losenick about the character of a
+maid-servant."
+
+"Oh, well," returned the other with a little shake of the head, "even
+Mrs Forrest can't manage to be in two places at once, can she?"
+
+Mrs Hunt smiled, and looked pleasantly round on her assembled guests,
+but did not make any other answer.
+
+"Although I was only saying this morning, there's very little Mrs
+Forrest can't do if she makes up her mind to it," resumed Miss Gibbins,
+the lady who had first spoken.  "Look at all her arrangements at
+Waverley!  It's well known that she manages the schools almost
+entirely--and then her house--so elegant, so orderly--and such a way
+with her maids!  _Some_ people consider her a little stiff in her
+manner, but I don't _know_ that I should call her that."
+
+She glanced inquiringly at Mrs Hunt, who still smiled and said nothing.
+
+"It's not such a very difficult thing," said Mrs Hurst, the wife of the
+curate of Dornton, "to be a good manager, or to have good servants, if
+you have plenty of money."  She pressed her lips together rather
+bitterly, as she bent over her work.
+
+"There was one thing, though," pursued Miss Gibbins, dropping her voice
+a little, "that Mrs Forrest was not able to prevent, and that was her
+brother-in-law's marriage.  I happen to know that she felt that very
+much.  And it _was_ a sad mistake altogether, wasn't it?"
+
+She addressed herself pointedly to Mrs Hunt, who was gazing serenely
+out into the garden, and that lady murmured in a soft tone:
+
+"Poor Prissy Goodwin!  How pretty and nice she was!"
+
+"Oh, as to that, dear Mrs Hunt," broke in a stout lady with round eyes
+and a very deep voice, who had newly arrived, "that's not quite the
+question.  Poor Prissy was very pretty, and very nice and refined, and
+as good as gold.  We all know that.  But _was_ it the right marriage for
+Mr Bernard Forrest?  An organist's daughter! or you might even say, a
+music-master's daughter!"
+
+"Old Mr Goodwin has aged very much lately," remarked Mrs Hunt.  "I met
+him this morning, looking so tired, that I made him come in and rest a
+little.  He had been giving a lesson to Mrs Palmer's children out at
+Pynes."
+
+"How kind and thoughtful of you, dear Mrs Hunt," said Miss Gibbins.
+"That's very far for him to walk.  I wonder he doesn't give it up.  I
+suppose, though, he can't afford to do that."
+
+"I don't think he has ever been the same man since Prissy's marriage,"
+said Mrs Hunt, "though he plays the organ more beautifully than ever."
+
+With her spectacles perched upon her nose, her hands crossed comfortably
+on her lap, and a most beaming smile on her face, Mrs Hunt looked the
+picture of contented idleness, while her guests stitched away busily,
+with flying fingers, and heads bent over their work.  She had done about
+half an inch of the pattern on her strip, and now, her needle being
+unthreaded, made no attempt to continue it.
+
+"Delia's coming in presently," she remarked placidly, meeting Miss
+Gibbins' sharp glance as it rested on her idle hands; "she will take my
+work a little while--ah, here she is," as the door opened.
+
+A girl of about sixteen came towards them, stopping to speak to the
+ladies as she passed them on her way up the room.  She was short for her
+age, and rather squarely built, holding herself very upright, and
+walking with calmness and decision.
+
+Everything about Delia Hunt seemed to express determination, from her
+firm chin to her dark curly hair, which would always look rough,
+although it was brushed back from her forehead and fastened up securely
+in a knot at the back of her head.  Nothing could make it lie flat and
+smooth, however, and in spite of all Delia's efforts, it curled and
+twisted itself defiantly wherever it had a chance.  Perhaps, by doing
+so, it helped to soften a face which would have been a little hard
+without the good-tempered expression which generally filled the bright
+brown eyes.
+
+"That sort of marriage never answers," said Mrs Winn, as Delia reached
+her mother's side.  "Just see what unhappiness it caused.  It was a
+bitter blow to Mr and Mrs Forrest; it made poor old Mr Goodwin
+miserable, and separated him from his only child; and as to Prissy
+herself--well, the poor thing didn't live to find out her mistake, and
+left her little daughter to feel the consequences of it."
+
+"Poor little motherless darling," murmured Mrs Hunt.--"Del, my love, go
+on with my work a little, while I say a few words to old Mrs Crow."
+
+Delia took her mother's place, threaded her needle, raised her eyebrows
+with an amused air, as she examined the work accomplished, and bent her
+head industriously over it.
+
+"Doesn't it seem quite impossible," said Miss Gibbins, "to realise that
+Prissy's daughter is really coming to Waverley to-morrow!  Why, it seems
+the other day that I saw Prissy married in Dornton church!"
+
+"It must be fifteen years ago at the least," said Mrs Winn, in such
+deep tones that they seemed to roll round the room.  "The child must be
+fourteen years old."
+
+"She wore grey cashmere," said Miss Gibbins, reflectively, "and a little
+white bonnet.  And the sun streamed in upon her through the painted
+window.  I remember thinking she looked like a dove.  I wonder if the
+child is like her."
+
+"The Forrests have never taken much notice of Mr Goodwin, since the
+marriage," said Mrs Hurst, "but I suppose, now his grandchild is to
+live there, all that will be altered."
+
+Delia looked quickly up at the speaker, but checked the words on her
+lips, and said nothing.
+
+"You can't do away with the ties of blood," said Mrs Winn; "the child's
+his grandchild.  You can't ignore that."
+
+"Why should you want to ignore it?" asked Delia, suddenly raising her
+eyes and looking straight at her.
+
+The attack was so unexpected that Mrs Winn had no answer ready.  She
+remained speechless, with her large grey eyes wider open than usual, for
+quite a minute before she said, "These are matters, Delia, which you are
+too young to understand."
+
+"Perhaps I am," answered Delia; "but I can understand one thing very
+well, and that is, that Mr Goodwin is a grandfather that any one ought
+to be proud of, and that, if his relations are not proud of him, it is
+because they're not worthy of him."
+
+"Oh, well," said Miss Gibbins, shaking her head rather nervously as she
+looked at Delia, "we all know what a champion Mr Goodwin has in you,
+Delia.  `Music with its silver sound' draws you together, as Shakespeare
+says.  And, of course, we're all proud of our organist in Dornton, and,
+of course, he has great talent.  Still, you know, when all's said and
+done, he _is_ a music-master, and in quite a different position from the
+Forrests."
+
+"Socially," said Mrs Winn, placing her large, white hand flat on the
+table beside her, to emphasise her words, "Mr Goodwin is not on the
+same footing.  When Delia is older she will know what that means."
+
+"I know it now," replied Delia.  "I never consider them on the same
+footing at all.  There are plenty of clergymen everywhere, but where
+could you find any one who can play the violin like Mr Goodwin?"
+
+She fixed her eyes with innocent inquiry on Mrs Winn.  Mrs Hurst
+bridled a little.
+
+"I do think," she said, "that clergymen occupy a position quite apart.
+I like Mr Goodwin very much.  I've always thought him a nice old
+gentleman, and Herbert admires his playing, but--"
+
+"Of course, of course," said Mrs Winn, "we must be all agreed as to
+that.--You're too fond, my dear Delia, of giving your opinion on
+subjects where ignorance should keep you silent.  A girl of your age
+should try to behave herself, lowly and reverently, to all her betters."
+
+"So I do," said Delia, with a smile; "in fact, I feel so lowly and
+reverent sometimes, that I could almost worship Mr Goodwin.  I am ready
+to humble myself to the dust, when I hear him playing the violin."
+
+Mrs Winn was preparing to make a severe answer to this, when Miss
+Gibbins, who was tired of being silent, broke adroitly in, and changed
+the subject.
+
+"You missed a treat last Thursday, Mrs Winn, by losing the Shakespeare
+reading.  It was rather far to get out to Pynes, to be sure, but it was
+worth the trouble, to hear Mrs Hurst read `Arthur.'"
+
+The curate's wife gave a little smile, which quickly faded as Miss
+Gibbins continued: "I had no idea there was anything so touching in
+Shakespeare.  Positively melting!  And then Mrs Palmer looked so well!
+She wore that rich plum-coloured silk, you know, with handsome lace, and
+a row of most beautiful lockets.  I thought to myself, as she stood up
+to read in that sumptuous drawing-room, that the effect was regal.
+`Regal,' I said afterwards, is the only word to express Mrs Palmer's
+appearance this afternoon."
+
+"What part did Mrs Palmer read?" asked Delia, as Miss Gibbins looked
+round for sympathy.
+
+"Let me see.  Dear me, it's quite escaped my memory.  Ah, I have it.  It
+was the mother of the poor little boy, but I forget her name.--You will
+know, Mrs Hurst; you have such a memory!"
+
+"It was Constance," said the curate's wife.  "Mrs Palmer didn't do
+justice to the part.  It was rather too much for her.  Indeed, I don't
+consider that they arranged the parts well last time.  They gave my
+husband nothing but `messengers,' and the Vicar had `King John.'  Now, I
+don't want to be partial, but I think most people would agree that
+Herbert reads Shakespeare _rather_ better than the Vicar."
+
+"I wonder," said Miss Gibbins, turning to Delia, as the murmur of assent
+to this speech died away, "that you haven't joined us yet, but I suppose
+your studies occupy you at present."
+
+"But I couldn't read aloud, in any case, before a lot of people," said
+Delia, "and Shakespeare must be so very difficult."
+
+"You'd get used to it," said Miss Gibbins.  "I remember," with a little
+laugh, "how nervous _I_ felt the first time I stood up to read.  My
+heart beat so fast I thought it would choke me.  The first sentence I
+had to say was, `Cut him in pieces!' and the words came out quite in a
+whisper.  But now I can read long speeches without losing my breath or
+feeling at all uncomfortable."
+
+"I like the readings," said Mrs Hurst, "because they keep up one's
+knowledge of Shakespeare, and that _must_ be refining and elevating, as
+Herbert says."
+
+"So pleasant, too, that the clergy can join," added Miss Gibbins.
+
+"Mrs Crow objects to that," said Mrs Hurst.  "She told me once she
+considered it wrong, because they might be called straight away from
+reading plays to attend a deathbed.  Herbert, of course, doesn't agree
+with her, or he wouldn't have helped to get them up.  He has a great
+opinion of Shakespeare as an elevating influence, and though he _did_
+write plays, they're hardly ever acted.  He doesn't seem, somehow, to
+have much to do with the theatre."
+
+"Between ourselves," said Miss Gibbins, sinking her voice and glancing
+to the other end of the room, where Mrs Crow's black bonnet was nodding
+confidentially at Mrs Hunt, "dear old Mrs Crow is _rather_
+narrow-minded.  I should think the presence of the Vicar at the readings
+might satisfy her that all was right."
+
+"The presence of _any_ clergyman," began Mrs Hurst, "ought to be
+sufficient warrant that--"
+
+But her sentence was not finished, for at this moment a little general
+rustle at the further end of the room, the sudden ceasing of
+conversation, and the door set wide open, showed that it was time to
+adjourn for tea.  Work was rolled up, thimbles and scissors put away in
+work-bags, and very soon the whole assembly had floated across the hall
+into the dining-room, and was pleasantly engaged upon Mrs Hunt's
+hospitable preparations for refreshment.  Brisk little remarks filled
+the air as they stood about with their teacups in their hands.
+
+"I never can resist your delicious scones, Mrs Hunt.--Home-made?  You
+don't say so.  I wish my cook could make them."--"Thank you, Delia; I
+_will_ take another cup of coffee: yours is always so good."--"Such a
+pleasant afternoon!  Dear me, nearly five o'clock?  How time
+flies."--"Dr Hunt very busy?  Fever in Back Row?  So sorry.  But
+decreasing?  So glad."--"Good-bye, _dear_ Mrs Hunt.  We meet next
+Thursday, I hope?"--and so on, until the last lady had said farewell and
+smiled affectionately at her hostess, and a sudden silence fell on the
+room, left in the possession of Delia and her mother.
+
+"Del, my love," said the latter caressingly, "go and put the
+drawing-room straight, and see that all those things are cleared away.
+I will try to get a little nap.  Dear old Mrs Crow had so much to tell
+me that my head quite aches."
+
+Delia went into the deserted drawing-room, where the chairs and tables,
+standing about in the little groups left by their late occupiers, still
+seemed to have a confidential air, as though they were telling each
+other interesting bits of news.  She moved about with a preoccupied
+frown on her brow, picking up morsels of silk from the floor, rolling up
+strips of serge, and pushing back chairs and tables, until the room had
+regained its ordinary look.  Then she stretched her arms above her head,
+gave a sigh of relief, and strolled out of the open French windows into
+the garden.  The air was very calm and still, so that various mingled
+noises from the town could be plainly heard, though not loudly enough to
+produce more than a subdued hum, which was rather soothing than
+otherwise.  Amongst them the deep recurring tones of the church bell,
+ringing for evening prayers, fell upon Delia's ear as she wandered
+slowly up the gravel path, her head full of busy thoughts.
+
+They were not wholly pleasant thoughts, and they had to do chiefly with
+two people, one very well known to her, and the other quite a stranger--
+Mr Goodwin, and his grandchild, Anna Forrest.  Delia could hardly make
+up her mind whether she were pleased or annoyed at the idea of Anna's
+arrival.  Of course she was glad, she told herself, of anything that
+would please the "Professor," as she always called Mr Goodwin; and she
+was curious and anxious to see what the new-comer would be like, for
+perhaps they might be companions and friends, though Anna was two years
+younger than herself.  She could not, however, prevent a sort of
+suspicion that made her feel uneasy.  Anna might be proud.  She might
+even speak of the Professor in the condescending tone which so many
+people used in Dornton.  Mrs Forrest at Waverley always looked proud,
+Delia thought.  Perhaps Anna would be like her.
+
+"If she is," said Delia to herself, suddenly stopping to snap off the
+head of a snapdragon which grew in an angle of the old red wall--"if she
+is--if she dares--if she doesn't see that the Professor is worth more
+than all the people in Dornton--_I will_ despise her--I will--"
+
+She stopped and shook her head.
+
+"And if it's the other way, and she loves and honours him as she ought,
+and is everything to him, and, and, takes my place, what shall I do
+then?  Why, then, I will try not to detest her."
+
+She laughed a little as she stooped to gather some white pinks which
+bordered the path, and fastened them in her dress.
+
+"Pretty she is sure to be," she continued to herself, "like her mother,
+whom they never mention without praise--and she is almost certain to
+love music.  Dear old Professor, how pleased he will be!  I will try not
+to mind, but I do hope she can't play the violin as well as I do.  After
+all, it would be rather unfair if she had a beautiful face and a musical
+soul as well."
+
+The bell stopped, and the succeeding silence was harshly broken by the
+shrill whistle of a train.
+
+"There's the five o'clock train," said Delia to herself; "to-morrow by
+this time she will be here."
+
+Mrs Winn and Miss Gibbins meanwhile had pursued their way home
+together, for they lived close to each other.
+
+"It's a pity Delia Hunt has such blunt manners, isn't it?" said the
+latter regretfully, "and such very decided opinions for a young girl?
+It's not at all becoming.  I felt quite uncomfortable just now."
+
+"She'll know better by-and-by," said Mrs Winn.  "There's a great deal
+of good in Delia, but she is conceited and self-willed, like all young
+people."
+
+Miss Gibbins sighed.  "She'll never be so amiable as her dear mother,"
+she said.--"Why!" suddenly changing her tone to one of surprise, "isn't
+that Mr Oswald?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," said Mrs Winn, gazing after the spring-cart which
+had passed them rapidly.  "What then?"
+
+"He had a _child_ with him," said Miss Gibbins impressively.  "A child
+with fair hair, like Prissy Goodwin's, and they came from the station.
+Something tells me it was Prissy's daughter."
+
+"Nonsense, Julia," replied Mrs Winn; "she's not expected till
+to-morrow.  Mrs Forrest told Mrs Hunt so herself.  Besides, how should
+Mr Oswald have anything to do with meeting her?  That was his own
+little girl with him, I daresay."
+
+"Daisy Oswald has close-cropped, black hair," replied Miss Gibbins,
+quite unshaken in her opinion.  "This child was older, and her hair
+shone like gold.  I feel sure it was Prissy's daughter."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+WAVERLEY.
+
+  Meadows trim with daisies pied,
+  Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
+
+  Milton.
+
+While this went on at Dornton, Anna was getting nearer and nearer to her
+new home.  At first she was pleased and excited at setting forth on a
+journey all by herself, and found plenty to occupy her with all she saw
+from the carriage windows, and with wondering which of the villages and
+towns she passed so rapidly were like Dornton and Waverley.  It was
+surprising that the old lady sitting opposite to her could look so
+placid and calm.  Perhaps, however, she was not going to a strange place
+amongst new people, and most likely had taken a great many journeys
+already in her life.  Anna was glad this was not her own ease: it must
+be very dull, she thought, to be old, and to have got used to
+everything, and to have almost nothing to look forward to.
+
+As the day wore on, and the hot afternoon sun streamed in at the
+windows, the old lady, who was her only companion, fell fast asleep, and
+Anna began to grow rather weary.  She took the case with her mother's
+picture in it out of her pocket and studied it again attentively.  The
+gentle, sweet face seemed to smile back kindly at her.  "If you are half
+as beautiful and a quarter as good," her father had said.  Was she at
+all like the picture now?  Anna wondered.  Surely her hair was rather
+the same colour.  She pulled a piece of it round to the front--it was
+certainly yellow, but hardly so bright.  Well, her grandfather would
+tell her--she would ask him on the very first opportunity.  Her
+grandfather!  It was wonderful to think she should really see him soon,
+and ask him all sorts of questions about her mother.  He lived at
+Dornton, but that was only two miles from Waverley, and, no doubt, she
+should often be able to go there.  He was an organist.
+
+Her father's tone, half-pitying, half-disapproving, came back to her
+with the word.  She tried to think of what she knew about organists.  It
+was not much.  There was an organist in the church in London to which
+she had gone every Sunday with Miss Milverton, but he was always
+concealed behind red curtains, so that she did not even know what he
+looked like.  The organist must certainly be an important person in a
+church.  Anna did not see how the service could get on without him.
+What a pity that her grandfather did not play the organ in her Uncle
+John's church, instead of at Dornton!
+
+She made a great many resolves as she sat there, with her mother's
+portrait in her hand: she would be very fond of her grandfather, and, of
+course, he would be very fond of her; and as he lived all alone, there
+would be a great many things she could do to make him happier.  She
+pictured herself becoming very soon his chief comforter and companion,
+and began to wonder how he had done without her so long.
+
+Lost in these thoughts, she hardly noticed that the train had begun to
+slacken its pace; presently, it stopped at a large station.  The old
+lady roused herself, tied her bonnet strings, and evidently prepared for
+a move.
+
+"You're going farther, my dear," she said kindly.  "Dornton is the next
+station but one.  You won't mind being alone a little while?"
+
+She nodded and smiled from the platform.  Anna handed out her numerous
+parcels and baskets: the train moved on, and she was now quite alone.
+She might really begin to look out for Dornton, which must be quite
+near.  It seemed a long time coming, however, and she had made a good
+many false starts, grasping her rugs and umbrella, before there was an
+unmistakable shout of "Dornton!"  She got out and looked up and down the
+platform, but it was easy to see that Mrs Forrest was not there.  Two
+porters, a newspaper boy, and one or two farmers, were moving about in
+the small station, but no one in the least like Aunt Sarah.  Anna stood
+irresolute.  She had been so certain that Aunt Sarah would be there,
+that she had not even wondered what she should do in any other case.
+Mrs Forrest had promised to come herself, and Anna could not remember
+that she had ever failed to carry out her arrangements at exactly the
+time named.
+
+"If it had been father, now," she said to herself in her perplexity, "he
+would perhaps have forgotten, but Aunt Sarah--"
+
+"Any luggage, miss?" asked the red-faced young porter.
+
+"Oh yes, please," said Anna; "and I expected some one to meet me--a
+lady."
+
+She looked anxiously at him.
+
+"Do 'ee want to go into the town?" he asked, as Anna pointed out her
+trunks.  "There's a omnibus outside."
+
+"No; I want to go to Waverley Vicarage," said Anna, feeling very
+deserted.  "How can I get there?"
+
+She followed the porter as he wheeled the boxes outside the station,
+where a small omnibus was waiting, and also a high spring-cart, in which
+sat a well-to-do-looking farmer.
+
+"You ain't seen no one from Waverley, Mr Oswald?" said the porter.
+"This 'ere young lady expects some one to meet her."
+
+The farmer looked thoughtfully at Anna.
+
+"Waverley, eh," he repeated, "Vicarage?"
+
+"Ah," said the porter, nodding.
+
+Another long gaze.
+
+"Well, I'm going by the gate myself," he said at last.  "I reckon Molly
+wouldn't make much odds of the lot," glancing at the luggage, "if the
+young lady would like a lift."
+
+"Perhaps," said Anna, hesitatingly, "I'd better have a cab, as Mrs
+Forrest is not here."
+
+"I could order you a fly at the Blue Boar," said the porter.
+"'Twouldn't be ready, not for a half-hour or so.  Mr Oswald 'd get yer
+over a deal quicker."
+
+No cabs!  What a strange place, and how unlike London!  Anna glanced
+uncertainly at the high cart, the tall strawberry horse stamping
+impatiently, and the good-natured, brown face of the farmer.  It would
+be an odd way of arriving at Waverley, and she was not at all sure that
+Aunt Sarah would approve of it; but what was she to do?  It was very
+kind of the farmer; would he expect to be paid?
+
+"Better come along, missie," said Mr Oswald, as these thoughts passed
+rapidly through her mind.  "You'll be over in a brace of shakes.--Hoist
+them things in at the back, Jim."
+
+Almost before she knew it, Anna had taken the broad hand held out to
+help her, had mounted the high step, and was seated by the farmer's
+side.
+
+"Any port in a storm, eh?" he said, good-naturedly, as he put the rug
+over her knees.--"All right at the back, Jim?"
+
+A shake of the reins, and Molly dashed forward with a bound that almost
+threw Anna off her seat, and whirled the cart out of the station-yard at
+what seemed to her a fearful pace.
+
+"She'll quiet down directly," said Mr Oswald; "she's fretted a bit
+standing at the station.  Don't ye be nervous, missie; there's not a
+morsel of harm in her."
+
+Nevertheless, Anna felt obliged to grasp the side of the cart tightly as
+Molly turned into the principal street of Dornton, which was wide, and,
+fortunately, nearly empty.  What a quiet, dull-looking street it was,
+after the noisy rattle of London, and how low and small the shops and
+houses looked!  If only Molly would go a little slower!
+
+"Yonder's the church," said Mr Oswald, pointing up a steep side-street
+with his whip; "and yonder's the river," waving it in the opposite
+direction.
+
+Anna turned her head quickly, and caught a hurried glimpse of a grey
+tower on one side, and a thin white streak in the distant, low-lying
+meadows on the other.
+
+"And here's the new bank," continued Mr Oswald, with some pride, as
+they passed a tall, red brick building which seemed to stare the other
+houses out of countenance; "and the house inside the double white gates
+is Dr Hunt's."
+
+"I suppose you know Dornton very well?"  Anna said as he paused.
+
+"Been here, man and boy, a matter of forty years--leastways, in the
+neighbourhood," replied the farmer.
+
+"Then you know where Mr Goodwin lives, I suppose?" said Anna.
+
+"Which of 'em?" said the farmer.  "There's Mr Goodwin, the baker; and
+Mr Goodwin, the organist at Saint Mary's."
+
+"Oh, the organist," said Anna.
+
+"To be sure I do.  He lives in Number 4 Back Row.  You can't see it from
+here; it's an ancient part of Dornton, in between High Street and Market
+Street.  He's been here a sight of years--every one knows Mr Goodwin--
+he's as well known as the parish church is."
+
+Anna felt pleased to hear that.  It convinced her that her grandfather
+must be an important person, although Back Row did not sound a very
+important place.
+
+"How fast your horse goes," she said, by way of continuing the
+conversation, for, after her long silence in the train, it was quite
+pleasant to talk to somebody.
+
+"Ah, steps out, doesn't she?" said the farmer, with a gratified chuckle.
+"You won't beat her for pace _this_ side of the county.  She was bred
+at Leas Farm, and she's a credit to it."
+
+They were now clear of the town, and had turned off the dusty high-road
+into a lane, with high hedges on either side.
+
+"Oh, how pretty!" cried Anna.
+
+She could see over these hedges, across the straggling wreaths of
+dog-roses and clematis, to the meadows on either hand, where the tall
+grass, sprinkled with silvery ox-eyed daisies, stood ready for hay.
+Beyond these again came the deep brown of some ploughed land, and now
+and then bits of upland pasture, with cows and sheep feeding.  The river
+Dorn, which Mr Oswald had pointed out from the town, wound its zigzag
+course along the valley, which they were now leaving behind them.  As
+they mounted a steep hill, Molly had considerably slackened her speed,
+so that Anna could look about at her ease and observe all this.
+
+"What a beautiful place this is!" she exclaimed with delight.
+
+"Well enough," said the farmer; "nice open country.  Yonder pasture,
+where the cows are, belongs to me; if you're stopping at Waverley,
+missie, I can show you a goodish lot of cows at Leas Farm."
+
+"Oh, I should love to see them!" said Anna.
+
+"My little daughter 'll be proud to show 'em yer; she's just twelve
+years old, Daisy is.  Now, you wouldn't guess what I gave her as a
+birthday present?"
+
+"No," said Anna; "I can't guess at all."
+
+"'Twas as pretty a calf as you ever saw, with a white star on its
+forehead.  Nothing would do after that but I must buy her a collar for
+it.  `Puppa,' she says, `when you go into Dornton, you must get me a
+collar and a bell, like there is in my picture-book.'  My word!" said
+the farmer, slapping his knee, "how all the beasts carried on when they
+first heard that bell in the farmyard!  You never saw such antics!  It
+was like as if they were clean mad!"
+
+He threw back his head and gave a jolly laugh at the bare recollection;
+it was so hearty and full of enjoyment, that Anna felt obliged to laugh
+a little too.
+
+"Here you are, my lass," he said, touching Molly lightly with the whip
+as they reached the top of the hill.  "All level ground now between here
+and Waverley.--Now, what are you shying at?" as Molly swerved away from
+a stile in the hedge.
+
+It was at an old man who was climbing slowly over it into the steep
+lane.  He wore shabby, black clothes: his shoulders were bent, and his
+grey hair rather long; in his hand he carried a violin-case.
+
+"That's the Mr Goodwin you were asking after, missie," said the farmer,
+touching his hat with his whip, as they passed quickly by.  "Looks
+tired, poor old gentleman; hot day for a long walk."
+
+Anna started and looked eagerly back, but Molly's long stride had
+already placed a good distance between herself and the figure which was
+descending the hill.  That her grandfather!  Was it possible?  He looked
+so poor, so dusty, so old, such a contrast to the merry June evening, as
+he tramped wearily down the flowery lane, a little bent to one side by
+the weight of his violin-case.  Not an important or remarkable person,
+such as she had pictured to herself, but a tired old man, of whom the
+farmer spoke in a tone of pity.  Her father had done so too, she
+remembered.  Did every one pity her grandfather?  There was all the more
+need, certainly, that she should help and cheer him, yet Anna felt
+vaguely disappointed, she hardly knew why.
+
+These thoughts chased away her smiles completely, and such a grave
+expression took their place that the farmer noticed the change.
+
+"Tired, missie, eh?" he inquired.  "Well, we're there now, so to speak.
+Yonder's the spire of Waverley church, and the Vicarage is close against
+it--steady then, lass," as Molly objected to turning in at a white gate.
+
+"It's a terrible business is travelling by rail," he continued, "to take
+the spirit out of you; I'd sooner myself ride on horseback for a whole
+day, than sit in a train half a one."
+
+A long, narrow road, with iron railings on either side, dividing it from
+broad meadows, brought them to another gate, which the farmer got down
+to open, and then led Molly up to the porch of the Vicarage.
+
+A boy running out from the stable-yard close by stood at the horse's
+head while Mr Oswald carefully helped Anna down from her high seat,
+took out her trunks from the back of the cart, and rang the bell.  Again
+the question of payment troubled her, but he did not leave her long to
+consider it.
+
+"Well, you're landed now, missie," he said with his good-natured smile,
+as he took the reins and turned the impatient Molly towards the gate;
+"so I'll say good-day to you, and my respects to Mr and Mrs Forrest."
+
+Molly seemed to Anna to make but one bound from the door to the gate,
+and to carry the cart and the farmer out of sight, while she was still
+murmuring her thanks.
+
+She turned to the maid-servant, who had opened the door and was gazing
+at her and her boxes with some surprise.
+
+"Yes, miss," she said, in answer to Anna's inquiry; "Mrs Forrest is at
+home; she's in the garden, if you'll please to come this way; we didn't
+expect you till to-morrow."
+
+Through the door opposite, Anna could see a lawn, a tea-table under a
+large tree, a gentleman in a wicker chair, and a lady, in a
+broad-brimmed hat, sauntering about with a watering-pot in her hand.
+When she saw Anna following the maid, the lady dropped her watering-pot,
+and stood rooted to the ground in an attitude of intense surprise.
+
+"Why, Anna!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Didn't you expect me, Aunt Sarah?" said Anna.  "Father said you would
+meet me to-day."
+
+"Now," said Mrs Forrest, turning round to her husband in the wicker
+chair, "isn't that exactly like your brother Bernard?"
+
+"Well, in the meantime, here is Anna, safe and sound," he replied; "so
+there's no harm done.--Come and sit down in the shade, my dear; you've
+had a hot journey."
+
+"Where's your luggage?" continued Mrs Forrest, as she kissed her niece.
+"Did you walk up from the station, and leave it there?"
+
+"Oh no, aunt; I didn't know the way," said Anna.
+
+She began to feel afraid she had done quite the wrong thing in coming
+with Mr Oswald.
+
+"Oh, you had to take a fly," said Mrs Forrest.  "It's a most provoking
+thing altogether."
+
+"It doesn't really matter much, my dear, does it?" said Mr Forrest, as
+he placed a chair for his niece.  "She's managed to get here without any
+accident, although you did not meet her.--Suppose you give us some tea."
+
+"I took the trouble to make a note of the train and day," continued Mrs
+Forrest, "and I repeated them twice to Bernard, so that there should be
+no mistake."
+
+"Well, you couldn't have done more," said Mr Forrest, soothingly.
+"Bernard always was a forgetful fellow, you know."
+
+"Such a very unsuitable thing for the child to arrive quite alone at the
+station, and no one to meet her there!  And I had made all my
+arrangements for to-morrow so carefully."
+
+As Anna drank her tea, she listened to all this, and intended every
+moment to mention that Mr Oswald had driven her from the station, but
+she was held back by a mixture of shyness and fear of what her aunt
+would say; perhaps she had done something very silly, and what Mrs
+Forrest would call unsuitable!  At any rate, it was easier just now to
+leave her under the impression that she had taken a fly; but, of course,
+directly she got a chance, she would tell her all about it.  For some
+time, however, Mrs Forrest continued to lament that her arrangements
+had not been properly carried out, and when the conversation did change,
+Anna had a great many questions to answer about her father and his
+intended journey.  Then a message was brought out to her uncle, over
+which he and Mrs Forrest bent in grave consultation.  She had now
+leisure to look about her.  How pretty it all was!  The long, low front
+of the Vicarage stood facing her, with the smooth green lawn between
+them, and up the supports of the veranda there were masses of climbing
+plants in full bloom.  The old part of the house had a very deep,
+red-tiled roof, with little windows poking out of it here and there, and
+the wing which the present Vicar had built stood at right angles to it.
+Anna thought her father was right in not admiring the new bit as much as
+the old, but, nevertheless, with the evening light resting on it, it all
+looked very pretty and peaceful just now.
+
+"And how do you like the look of Waverley, Anna?" asked Mrs Forrest.
+
+Anna could answer with great sincerity that she thought it was a lovely
+place, and she said it so heartily that her aunt was evidently pleased.
+She kissed her.
+
+"I hope you will be happy whilst you are with us, my dear," she said,
+"and that Waverley may always be full of pleasant recollections to you."
+
+Anna was wakened next morning from a very sound sleep by a little
+tapping noise at her window, which she heard for some time in a sort of
+half-dream, without being quite roused by it; it was so persistent,
+however, that at last she felt she must open her eyes to find out what
+it was.  Where was she?  For the first few minutes she looked round the
+room in puzzled surprise, and could not make out at all.  It was so
+quiet, and clear, and bright, with sunbeams dancing about on the walls,
+so different altogether from the dingy, grey colour of a morning in
+London.  Soon, however, she remembered she was in the country at
+Waverley; and her mother's picture on the toilet-table brought back to
+her mind all that had passed yesterday--her journey, her drive with the
+farmer, her grandfather in the lane.
+
+There were two things she must certainly do to-day, she told herself, as
+she watched the quivering shadows on the wall.  First, she must ask her
+aunt to let her go at once and see her grandfather; and then she must
+tell her all about her arrival at the station yesterday, and how kindly
+Farmer Oswald had come to her help.  It was strange that, now she had
+actually got to Waverley, and was only two miles away from her
+grandfather, that she did not feel nearly so eager to talk to him as she
+had while she was on her journey.  However, she need not think about
+that now.  Here she was at Waverley, where it was all sunny and
+delightful; she should not see smoky London, or have any more walks in
+the Park with her governess, for a long while, perhaps never again.  She
+meant to enjoy herself, and be very happy, and nothing disagreeable or
+tiresome could happen in this beautiful place.
+
+There was the little tapping noise again!  What could it be?  Anna
+jumped out of bed, went softly to the window, and drew up the blind.
+Her bedroom was over the veranda, up which some cluster-roses had
+climbed, flung themselves in masses on the roof, and reached out some of
+their branches as far as the window-sill.  One bold little bunch had
+pressed itself close up against the pane, and the tight pink buds
+clattered against it whenever they were stirred by the breeze.  The
+tapping noise was fully accounted for, but Anna could not turn away, it
+was all so beautiful and so new to her.
+
+She pushed up the window, and leaned out.  What a lovely smell!  There
+was a long bed of mignonette and heliotrope just below, but, besides the
+fragrance from this, the air was full of all the sweet scents which
+belong to an early summer morning in the country.  What nice, curious
+noises, too, all mixed up together!  The bees buzzing in the flowers
+beneath, the little winds rustling in the leaves, the cheerful chirps
+and scraps of song from the birds, the crow of a distant cock, the deep,
+low cooing of the pigeons in the stable-yard near.  Anna longed to be
+out-of-doors, among these pleasant sights and sounds; she suddenly
+turned away, and began to dress herself quickly.  The stable clock
+struck seven just as she was ready, and she ran down-stairs into the
+garden with a delightful sense of freedom.  The sunshine was splendid;
+this was indeed different from walking in a London park; how happy she
+should be in this beautiful place!  On exploring a little, she found
+that the garden was not nearly so large as it looked, for the end of it
+was hidden by a great walnut tree which stood on the lawn.  Behind this
+came a square piece of kitchen garden, divided from the fields by a sunk
+fence, with a little wooden foot-bridge across it.
+
+Anna danced along by the side of the border, where the flowers stood in
+blooming luxuriance and the most perfect order.  Aunt Sarah was justly
+proud of her garden, and at present it was in brilliant perfection.
+Anna knew hardly any of their names, and indeed, except the roses, they
+were strange to her; she had not thought there could be so many kinds,
+and all so beautiful.  Reaching the kitchen garden, however, she found
+some old friends--a long row of sweet-peas, fluttering on their stems,
+like many-coloured butterflies poised for flight; these were familiar,
+for she had seen them in greengrocers' shops in London, tied up in
+tight, close bunches.  How different they looked at Waverley!  The
+colours were twice as bright.
+
+"I like these best of all," she said aloud, and as she spoke, a step
+sounded on the gravel, and there was Aunt Sarah, in her garden hat, with
+a basket, and scissors in her hand.
+
+"You admire my sweet-peas, Anna," she said, kissing her.  "I came out to
+gather some.  I find it is so much better to get my flowers before the
+sun is too hot.  Now, you can help me."
+
+They walked slowly along the hedge of sweet-peas together, picking them
+as they went.
+
+"What a beautiful garden yours is, Aunt Sarah," cried Anna.
+
+Mrs Forrest looked pleased.
+
+"There are many larger ones about here," she said, "but I certainly
+think my flowers do me credit.  I attend to them a great deal myself,
+but, of course, I cannot give them as much time as I should like.  Now
+you are come, we shall be busier than ever, because we must give some
+time every day to your studies."
+
+"Miss Milverton said she would write to you about the lessons I have
+been doing, aunt," said Anna.
+
+"I have arranged," continued Aunt Sarah, "to read with you for an hour
+every morning; it is difficult to squeeze it in, but I have managed it.
+And then I am hoping that you will join in some lessons with the
+Palmers--girls of your own age, who live near.  If their governess will
+allow you to learn French and German with them, it would be a good plan,
+and would give you companions besides.--By the way, Anna, Miss Milverton
+says in her letter that you don't make any progress in your music.  How
+is that?"
+
+"I don't care very much for music," said Anna.  "I would much rather not
+go on with it, unless you want me to."
+
+She thought that her aunt looked rather relieved, as she remarked that
+it was useless for people who were not musical to waste their time in
+learning to play, and that she should not make a point of music-lessons
+at present.
+
+"Now I must cut some roses," added Mrs Forrest, as she put the glowing
+bunches of sweet-peas into her basket.  "Come this way."
+
+Anna followed to a little nursery of standard rose-trees near the
+foot-bridge.
+
+"What are those chimneys I can just see straight over the fields?" she
+asked her aunt.
+
+"Leas Farm," she replied.  "It belongs to Mr Oswald, a very respectable
+farmer, who owns a good deal of land round here.  We have our milk and
+butter from him.  Your uncle used to keep his own cows, but he found
+them a trouble, and Mrs Oswald is an excellent dairy woman."
+
+Here was an opportunity for Anna's explanation.  The words were on her
+lips, when they were interrupted by the loud sound of a bell from the
+house.
+
+"The breakfast bell!" said Mrs Forrest, abruptly turning away from her
+roses, and beginning to hasten towards the house, without pausing a
+moment.  "I hope you will always be particular in one point, my dear
+Anna, and that is punctuality.  More hangs upon it than most people
+recognise: the comfort of a household certainly does.  If you are late
+for one thing, you are late for the next, and so on, until the whole day
+is thrown into disorder.  I am obliged to map my day carefully out to
+get through my business, and I expect others to do the same.  I speak
+seriously, because your father is one of the most unpunctual men I ever
+knew; and if you have inherited his failing, you cannot begin to
+struggle against it too soon."
+
+Anna had not been many days at the Vicarage before she found that
+punctuality was Aunt Sarah's idol, and that nothing offended her more
+than want of respect to it from others.  Certainly everything went like
+clockwork at Waverley, and though Anna fancied that Mr Forrest inwardly
+rebelled a little, he was outwardly quite submissive.  All Aunt Sarah's
+arrangements and plans were so neatly fitted into each other that the
+least transgression in one upset the next, and the effect of this was
+that she had no odds and ends of leisure to spare.  Anna even found it
+difficult to put all the questions she had in her mind.
+
+"Not now, my dear, I am engaged," was the frequent reply.  She managed
+to learn, however, that a visit to her grandfather had already been
+planned for that week, and that Mrs Forrest intended to leave her at
+his house at Dornton and fetch her again after driving farther on to
+make a call.
+
+With this she was obliged to be satisfied, and it was quite strange how,
+after a few days, the new surroundings and rules and pleasures of
+Waverley seemed to make much that had filled her mind on her arrival
+fade and grow less important.  She still wished to see her grandfather
+again; but the idea of being his chief comforter and support now seemed
+impossible, and rather foolish, and she would not have hinted it to Aunt
+Sarah on any account.  Neither did it seem necessary, as the days went
+on, to mention her drive with Mr Oswald and the accident of passing her
+grandfather in the lane.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+THE PROFESSOR.
+
+  ...I have heard a grave divine say that God has two dwellings--one in
+  heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.--_Izaak Walton_.
+
+"Del, my love," said Mrs Hunt, "I feel one of my worst headaches coming
+on.  Will you go this afternoon to see Mrs Winn, instead of me?"  Delia
+stood under the medlar tree on the lawn, ready to go out, with a bunch
+of roses in her hand, and her violin-case.  She looked at her mother
+inquiringly, for Mrs Hunt had not just then any appearance of
+discomfort.  She was sitting in an easy canvas chair, a broad-brimmed
+hat upon her head, and a newspaper in her hands; her slippered feet
+rested on a little wooden stool, and on a table by her side were a cup
+of tea, a nicely buttered roll, and a few very ripe strawberries.
+
+"Hadn't you better wait," said Delia, after a moment's pause, "until you
+can go yourself?  Mrs Winn would much rather see you.  Besides--it is
+my music afternoon."
+
+Mrs Hunt was looking up and down the columns of the paper while her
+daughter spoke: she did not answer at once, and when she did, it was
+scarcely an answer so much as a continuation of her own train of
+thoughts.
+
+"She has had a tickling cough for so many nights.  She can hardly sleep
+for it, and I promised her a pot of my own black currant jelly."
+
+"It's a great deal out of my way," said Delia.
+
+"If you go," continued Mrs Hunt, without raising her eyes, "you will
+find the row of little pots on the top shelf of the storeroom cupboard."
+
+Delia bit her lip.
+
+"If I go," she said, "I must shorten my music-lesson."
+
+Mrs Hunt said nothing, but looked as amiable as ever.  A frown gathered
+on Delia's forehead: she stood irresolute for a minute, and then, with a
+sudden effort, turned and went quickly into the house.  Mrs Hunt
+stirred her tea, tasted a strawberry, and leant back in her chair with a
+gentle sigh of comfort.  In a few minutes Delia reappeared hurriedly.
+
+"There is _no_ black currant jelly in the storeroom," she said, with an
+air of exasperation.
+
+Mrs Hunt looked up in mild surprise.
+
+"How strange!" she said.  "Could I have moved those pots?  Ah, now I
+remember!  I had a dream that all the jam was mouldy, and so I moved it
+into that cupboard in the kitchen.  That was why cook left.  She didn't
+like me to use that cupboard for the jam."
+
+"And, meanwhile, where is it?" said Delia.
+
+"Such a wicked mother to give you so much trouble!" murmured Mrs Hunt,
+with a sweet smile.  "But, Del, my love, you must try not to look so
+morose for trifles--it gives _such_ an ugly turn to the features.
+You'll find the jelly in that nice corner cupboard in the kitchen.
+Here's the key"--feeling in her pocket--"no; it is not here--where did I
+leave my keys?  Oh, you'll find them in the pocket of my black serge
+dress--and if they're not there, they are sure to be in the pocket of my
+gardening apron.  My kind love to Mrs Winn.  Tell her to take it
+constantly in the night.  And don't hurry, love, it's _so_ warm; you
+look heated already."
+
+In spite of this last advice, it was almost at a run that Delia, having
+at last found the keys and the jam, set forth on her errand.  Perhaps,
+if she were very quick, she need not lose much time with the Professor,
+after all, but she felt ruffled and rather cross at the delay.  It was
+not an unusual frame of mind, for she was not naturally of a patient
+temper, and did not bear very well the little daily frets and jars of
+her life.  She chafed inwardly as she went quickly on her way, that her
+music, which seemed to her the most important thing in the world, should
+be sacrificed to anything so uninteresting and dull as Mrs Winn's black
+currant jam.  It was all the more trying this afternoon, because, since
+Anna Forrest's arrival, she had purposely kept away from the Professor,
+and had not seen him for a whole fortnight.  A mixed feeling of jealousy
+and pride had made her determined that Anna should have every
+opportunity of making Mr Goodwin's acquaintance without any
+interference from herself.  It was only just and right that his
+grandchild should have the first place in his affections, the place
+which hitherto had been her own.  Well, now she must take the second
+place, and if Anna made the Professor happier, it would not matter.  At
+any rate, no one should know, however keenly she felt it.
+
+Mrs Winn, who was a widow, lived in an old-fashioned, red brick house
+facing the High Street; it had a respectable, dignified appearance,
+suggesting solid comfort, like the person of its owner.  Mrs Winn,
+however, was a lady not anxious for her own well-being only, but most
+charitably disposed towards others who were not so prosperous as
+herself.  She was the Vicar's right hand in all the various methods for
+helping the poor of his parish: clothing clubs, Dorcas meetings, coal
+clubs, lending library, were all indebted to Mrs Winn for substantial
+aid, both in the form of money and personal help.
+
+She was looked up to as a power in Dornton, and her house was much
+frequented by all those interested in parish matters, so that she was
+seldom to be found alone.  Perhaps, also, the fact that the delightful
+bow-window of her usual up-stairs sitting-room looked straight across to
+Appleby's, the post-office and stationer, increased its attractions.
+"It makes it so lively," Mrs Winn was wont to observe.  "I seldom pass
+a day, even if I don't go out, without seeing Mr Field, or Mr Hurst,
+or some of the country clergy, going in and out of Appleby's.  I never
+feel dull."
+
+To-day, to her great relief, Delia found Mrs Winn quite alone.  She was
+sitting at a table drawn up into the bow-window, busily engaged in
+covering books with whitey-brown paper.  On her right was a pile of
+gaily bound volumes, blue, red, and purple, which were quickly reduced
+to a pale brown, unattractive appearance in her practised hands, and
+placed in a pile on her left.  Delia thought Mrs Winn looked
+whitey-brown as well as the books, for there was no decided colour about
+her: her eyes were pale, as well as the narrow line of hair which showed
+beneath the border of her white cap; and her dresses were always of a
+doubtful shade, between brown and grey.
+
+She welcomed Delia kindly, but with the repressed air of severity which
+she always reserved for her.
+
+"How like your dear mother!" she exclaimed, on receiving the pot of
+jelly.--"Yes; my cough is a little better, tell her, but I thought I
+would keep indoors to-day--and, you see, I've all these books to get
+through, so it's just as well.  Mr Field got them in London for the
+library the other day."
+
+"What a pity they must be covered," said Delia, glancing from one pile
+to the other; "the children would like the bright colours so much
+better."
+
+"A nice state they would be in, in a week," said Mrs Winn, stolidly, as
+she folded, and snipped, and turned a book about in her large, capable
+hands.  "Besides, it's better to teach the children not to care for
+pretty things."
+
+"Is it?" said Delia.  "I should have thought that was just what they
+ought to learn."
+
+"The love of pretty things," said Mrs Winn, sternly, "is like the love
+of money, the root of all evil; and has led quite as many people
+astray.--All these books have to be labelled and numbered," she added,
+after a pause.  "You might do some, Delia, if you're not in a hurry."
+
+"Oh, but I am," said Delia, glancing at the clock.  "I am going to Mr
+Goodwin for a lesson, and I am late already."
+
+Mrs Winn had, however, some information to give about Mr Goodwin.
+Julia Gibbins, who had just looked in, had met him on the way to give a
+lesson at Pynes.
+
+"So," she added, "he can't possibly be home for another half-hour at
+least, you know; and you may just as well spend the time in doing
+something useful."
+
+With a little sigh of disappointment, Delia took off her gloves and
+seated herself opposite to Mrs Winn.  Everything seemed against her
+to-day.
+
+"And how," said that lady, having supplied her with scissors and paper,
+"do you get on with Anna Forrest?  You're with Mr Goodwin so much, I
+suppose you know her quite well by this time."
+
+"Indeed, I don't," said Delia.  "I haven't even seen her yet; have you?"
+
+"I've seen her twice," said Mrs Winn.  "She's pretty enough, though not
+to be compared to her mother; more like the Forrests, and has her
+father's pleasant manners.  If _looks_ were the only things to consider,
+she would do very well."
+
+"What's the matter with her?" asked Delia, bluntly, for Mrs Winn spoke
+as though she knew much more than she expressed.
+
+"Why, I've every reason to suppose," she began deliberately--then
+breaking off--"Take care, Delia," she exclaimed; "you're cutting that
+cover too narrow.  Let me show you.  You must leave a good bit to tuck
+under, don't you see, or it will be off again directly."
+
+Delia had never in her life been so anxious for Mrs Winn to finish a
+sentence, but she tried to control her impatience, and bent her
+attention to the brown paper cover.
+
+"It only shows," continued Mrs Winn, when her instructions were ended,
+"that I was right in what I said the other day about Mr Bernard
+Forrest's marriage.  That sort of thing never answers.  That child has
+evidently been brought up without a strict regard for truth."
+
+"What has she done?" asked Delia.
+
+"Not, of course," said Mrs Winn, "that poor Prissy could have had
+anything to do with that."
+
+The book Delia held slipped from her impatient fingers, and fell to the
+ground flat on its face.
+
+"My _dear_ Delia," said Mrs Winn, picking it up, and smoothing the
+leaves, with a shocked look, "the books get worn out quite soon enough,
+without being tossed about like that."
+
+"I'm very sorry," said Delia, humbly.--"But do tell me what it is you
+mean about Anna Forrest."
+
+"It's nothing at all pleasant," said Mrs Winn, "but as you're likely to
+see something of her, you ought to know that I've every reason to
+believe that she's not quite straightforward.  Now, with all your
+faults, Delia--and you've plenty of them--I never found you untruthful."
+
+She fixed her large, round eyes on her companion for a moment, but as
+Delia made no remark, resumed--
+
+"On the evening of your last working party but one, Julia Gibbins and I
+saw Mr Oswald of Leas Farm driving Anna Forrest from the station.  Of
+course, we didn't know her then.  But Julia felt sure it was Anna, and
+it turned out she was right.  Curiously enough, we met Mrs Forrest and
+the child in Appleby's shortly after, and Mrs Forrest said how unlucky
+it had been that there was a confusion about the day of her niece's
+arrival, and no one to meet her at the station; but, fortunately, she
+said, Anna was sensible enough to take a fly, so that was all right.
+Now, you see, my dear Delia, she _didn't_ take a fly," added Mrs Winn,
+solemnly, "so she must have deceived her aunt."
+
+Mrs Winn's most important stories had so often turned out to be founded
+on mistakes, that Delia was not much impressed by this one, nor disposed
+to think worse of Anna because of it.
+
+"Oh, I daresay there's a mistake somewhere," she said, lightly, rising
+and picking up her flowers and her violin-case.  "I must go now, Mrs
+Winn; the Professor will be back by the time I get there--good-bye."
+
+She hurried out of the room before Mrs Winn could begin another
+sentence; for long experience had taught her that the subject would not
+be exhausted for a long while, and that a sudden departure was the only
+way of escape.
+
+A quarter of an hour's quick walk brought her to Number 4 Back Row, and
+looking in at the sitting-room window, as her custom was, she saw that
+the Professor had indeed arrived before her.
+
+His dwelling was a contrast in every way to that of Mrs Winn.  For one
+thing, instead of standing boldly out before the world of Dornton High
+Street, it was smuggled away, with a row of little houses like itself,
+in a narrow sort of passage, enclosed between two wide streets.  This
+passage ended in a blank wall, and was, besides, too narrow for any but
+foot-passengers to pass up it, so that it would have been hard to find a
+quieter or more retired spot.  The little, old houses in it were only
+one storey high, and very solidly built, with thick walls, and the
+windows in deep recesses; before each a strip of garden, and a gravel
+walk stretched down to a small gate.  Back Row was the very oldest part
+of Dornton, and though the houses were small, they had always been lived
+in by respectable people, and preserved a certain air of gentility.
+
+Without waiting to knock, Delia hurried in at the door of Number 4,
+which led straight into the sitting-room.  The Professor was leaning
+back in his easy-chair, his boots white with dust, and an expression of
+fatigue and dejection over his whole person.
+
+"Oh, Professor," was her first remark, as she threw down her
+violin-case, "you _do_ look tired!  Have you had your tea?"
+
+"I believe, my dear," he replied, rather faintly, "Mrs Cooper has not
+come in yet."
+
+Mrs Cooper was a charwoman, who came in at uncertain intervals to cook
+the Professor's meals and clean his rooms: as he was not exacting, the
+claims of her other employers were always satisfied first, and if she
+were at all busier than usual, he often got scanty attention.
+
+Without waiting to hear more, Delia made her way to the little kitchen,
+and set about her preparations in a very business-like manner.  She was
+evidently well acquainted with the resources of the household, for she
+bustled about, opening cupboards, and setting tea-things on a tray, as
+though she were quite at home.  In a wonderfully short time she had
+prepared a tempting meal, and carried it into the sitting-room, so that,
+when the Professor came back from changing his boots, he found
+everything quite ready.  His little round table, cleared of the litter
+of manuscripts and music-books, was drawn up to the open window, and
+covered with a white cloth.  On it there was some steaming coffee, eggs,
+and bread and butter, a bunch of roses in the middle, and his arm-chair
+placed before it invitingly.
+
+He sank into it with a sigh of comfort and relief.
+
+"How very good your coffee smells, Delia!" he said; "quite different
+from Mrs Cooper's."
+
+"I daresay, if the truth were known," said Delia, carefully pouring it
+out, "that you had no dinner to speak of before you walked up to Pynes
+and back again."
+
+"I had a sandwich," answered Mr Goodwin, meekly, for Delia was bending
+a searching and severe look upon him.
+
+"Then Mrs Cooper didn't come!" she exclaimed.  "Really we ought to look
+out for some one else: I believe she does it on purpose."
+
+"Now I beg of you, Delia," said the Professor, leaning forward
+earnestly, "not to send Mrs Cooper away.  She's a very poor woman, and
+would miss the money.  She told me only the last time she was here that
+the doctor had ordered cod-liver oil for the twins, and she couldn't
+afford to give it them."
+
+"Oh, the twins!" said Delia, with a little scorn.
+
+"Well, my dear, she _has_ twins; she brought them here once in a
+perambulator."
+
+"But that's no reason at all she should not attend properly to you,"
+said Delia.
+
+Mr Goodwin put down his cup of coffee, which he had begun to drink with
+great relish, and looked thoroughly cast down.
+
+Delia laughed a little.
+
+"Well, I won't, then," she said.  "Mrs Cooper shall stay, and neglect
+her duties, and spoil your food as long as you like."
+
+"Thank you, my dear," said the Professor, brightening up again, "she
+really does extremely well, though, of course, she doesn't"--glancing at
+the table--"make things look so nice as you do."
+
+Delia blamed herself for staying away so long, when she saw with what
+contented relish her old friend applied himself to the simple fare she
+had prepared; it made her thoroughly ashamed to think that he should
+have suffered neglect through her small feelings of jealousy and pride.
+He should not be left for a whole fortnight again to Mrs Cooper's
+tender mercies.
+
+"We are to have a lesson to-night, I hope," said Mr Goodwin presently;
+"it must be a long time since we had one, Delia, isn't it?"
+
+"A whole fortnight," she answered, "but"--glancing wistfully at her
+violin-case--"you've had such hard work to-day, I know, if you've been
+to Pynes; perhaps it would be better to put it off."
+
+But Mr Goodwin would not hear of this: it would refresh him; it would
+put the other lessons out of his head; they would try over the last
+sonata he had given Delia to practise.
+
+"Did you make anything of it?" he asked.  "It is rather difficult."
+
+Delia's face, which until now had been full of smiles and happiness,
+clouded over mournfully.
+
+"Oh, Professor," she cried, "I'm in despair about my practising.  If I
+could get some more clear time to it, I know I could get on.  But it's
+always the same; the days get frittered up into tiny bits with things
+which don't seem to matter, and I feel I don't make any way; just as I
+am getting a hard passage right, I have to break off."
+
+This was evidently not a new complaint to Mr Goodwin.
+
+"Well, well, my dear," he said, kindly, "we will try it over together,
+and see how we get on; I daresay it is better than you think."
+
+Delia quickly collected the tea-things and carried them into the
+kitchen, to prevent any chance of Mrs Cooper clattering and banging
+about the room during the lesson; then she took out her violin, put her
+music on the stand, and began to play, without more ado; the Professor
+leaning back in his chair meanwhile, with closed eyes, and ears on the
+alert to detect faults or passages wrongly rendered.  As he sat there,
+perfectly still, a calm expression came into his face, which made him
+for the time look much younger than was usually the case.  He was not a
+very old man, but past troubles had left their traces in deep lines and
+wrinkles, and his hair was quite white; only his eyes preserved that
+look of eternal youth which is sometimes granted to those whose thoughts
+have always been unselfish, kindly, and generous.  Delia played on,
+halting a little over difficult passages, and as she played, the
+Professor's face changed with the music, showing sometimes an agony of
+anxiety during an intricate bit, and relaxing into a calm smile when she
+got to smooth water again.
+
+Once, as though urged by some sudden impulse, he rose and began to
+stride up and down the room; but when she saw this, Delia dropped her
+bow, and said in a warning voice, "Now, Professor!" when he at once
+resumed his seat, and waited patiently until she had finished.
+
+"It won't do, Delia," he said; "you've got the idea, but you can't carry
+it out."
+
+"Oh, I know," she replied, mournfully.  "I know how bad it is, and the
+worst of it is, that I can hear how it ought to be all the time."
+
+"No," he said, quickly, "that's not the worst of it; that's the best of
+it.  If you were satisfied with it as it is, you would be a hopeless
+pupil.  But you've something of the true artist in you, Delia.  The true
+artist, you know, is never satisfied."
+
+"I believe, though," said Delia, "that if I could shut myself up alone
+somewhere for a time with my violin, and no one to disturb me, I should
+be able to do something.  I might not be satisfied, but oh, how happy I
+should be!  As it is--"
+
+"As it is, you must do as greater souls have done before you," put in
+the Professor--"win your way towards your ideal through troubles and
+hindrances."
+
+"I don't get far, though," said Delia, mournfully.
+
+"Do you think you would get far by shutting yourself away from the
+common duties of your life?" said Mr Goodwin, in a kind voice.  "It's a
+very poor sort of talent that wants petting and coaxing like that.
+Those great souls in the past who have taught us most, have done it
+while reaching painfully up to their vision through much that thwarted
+and baffled them.  Their lives teach us as well as their art, and
+believe me, Delia, when the artist's life fails in duty and devotion,
+his art fails too in some way."
+
+"It is so hard to remember that all those dusty, little, everyday things
+matter," said Delia.
+
+"But if you think of what they stand for, they do matter very much.
+Call them self-discipline, and patience, and they are very important,
+above all, to an artist.  I have heard people say," continued Mr
+Goodwin, reflectively, "that certain failings of temper and self-control
+are to be excused in artists, because their natures are sensitive.  Now,
+that seems to me the very reason that they should be better than other
+people--more open to good influences.  And I believe, when this has not
+been so, it has been owing rather to a smallness of character than to
+their artistic temperament."
+
+Delia smiled.
+
+"I don't know," she said, "if I have anything of an artist in me, but I
+have a small character, for I am always losing my temper--except when I
+am with you, Professor.  If I talked to you every day, and had plenty of
+time to practise, I should have the good temper of an angel."
+
+"But not of a human being.  That must come, not from outward things
+being pleasant, but from inward things being right.  Believe an old man,
+my dear, who has had some trials and disappointments in his life, the
+best sort of happiness is his--
+
+  "Whose high endeavours are an inward light
+  Which makes the path before him always bright.
+
+"Those endeavours may not bring fame or success, but they do bring light
+to shine on all those everyday things you call dusty, and turn them to
+gold."
+
+Delia stood by her music-stand, her eyes fixed with a far-away gaze on
+the window, and a rebellious little frown on her brow.
+
+"But I should _love_ to be famous," she suddenly exclaimed, reaching up
+her arms and clasping her hands behind her head.  "Professor, I should
+_love_ it!  Fancy being able to play so as to speak to thousands of
+people, and make them hear what you say; to make them glad one moment
+and sorry the next; to have it in your power to move a whole crowd, as
+some musicians have!  It must be a splendid life.  Shouldn't _you_ like
+it?"
+
+Mr Goodwin's glance rested on his enthusiastic pupil with a little
+amusement.
+
+"It's rather late in the day for me to consider the question, isn't it?"
+he said.
+
+"Didn't you ever want to go away from Dornton and play to people who
+understand what you mean," asked Delia, impatiently.  "Instead of
+playing the organ in Saint Mary's and teaching me, you might be a famous
+musician in London, with crowds of people flocking to hear you."
+
+"Perhaps," said the Professor, quietly; "who knows?"
+
+"Then," she continued, dropping her arms and turning to him with sudden
+determination, "then, oh, Professor, why _didn't_ you go?"
+
+The question had been in her mind a very long time: now it was out, and
+she was almost frightened by her own rashness.  Mr Goodwin, however,
+seemed neither surprised nor annoyed.
+
+"Well, Delia," he answered, with a gentle shake of the head, "I suppose
+two things have kept me in Dornton--two very strong things--poverty and
+pride.  I had my chance once, but it came in a shape I couldn't bring
+myself to accept.  `There is a tide in the affairs of men,' you know,
+and if one neglects it--"
+
+He broke off and bent over his violin, which he had taken up from the
+ground.
+
+"Of course," said Delia, looking at him with great affection, "I'm glad
+you didn't go, for my own sake.  You and music make Dornton bearable."
+
+"You always speak so disdainfully of poor Dornton," said Mr Goodwin,
+drawing his bow softly across his violin.  "Now, I've known it longer
+than you, and really, when I look back, I've been very happy.  Dornton
+has given me the best any place has to give--people to love and care
+for.  After Prissy's marriage, there were some lonely days, to be sure.
+I could not feel very happy about that, for she seemed to be taken out
+of my life altogether, and there came sadder days still when she died.
+You were only a little toddling child then, Delia, and yet it seemed a
+short while before we began to be friends; and"--holding out his hand to
+her--"we've been friends ever since, haven't we?  So, you see, I ought
+not to be ungrateful to Dornton."
+
+"And now," added Delia, with an effort, "there is Anna, your grandchild;
+perhaps you will make her famous, though you wouldn't be famous
+yourself."
+
+Mr Goodwin shook his head.
+
+"Anna will never be famous in that way," he said.  "She has a sweet,
+affectionate manner, but there's nothing that reminds me of her mother
+at all, or of our family.  It's quite an effort to realise that she is
+Prissy's child.  It's a very curious feeling."
+
+"Have you seen her often?" asked Delia.
+
+"Only twice.  I don't at all suppose, as matters stand, that I shall
+ever see much of her.  I am so busy, you see, and she tells me her aunt
+has all sorts of plans for her--lessons, and so on."
+
+"But," said Delia, rather indignantly, "she _ought_ to come and see you
+often."
+
+"I shall not complain if she doesn't, and I shall not be surprised.
+There was a matter, years ago, in which I differed from Mrs Forrest,
+and I have never been to Waverley since: we are quite friendly when we
+meet, but there can never be really cordial relations between us."
+
+"If I were Anna," began Delia, impetuously--
+
+"But you are _not_ Anna," interrupted Mr Goodwin, with a smile; "you
+are Delia Hunt, and you are made of different materials.  If I am not
+mistaken, Anna is affectionate and yielding, and will be influenced by
+those she is with.  And then she's very young, you see; she could not
+oppose her aunt and uncle, and I'm sure I do not wish it.  I shall not
+interfere with her life at Waverley: the Forrests are kind people, and I
+feel sure she will be very happy there.  She will do very well without
+me."
+
+He turned towards his pupil and added, rather wistfully, "I should like
+_you_ to be friends with her, though, Delia; it would be a comfort to
+me."
+
+"Indeed, I will try my best, Professor," she exclaimed, earnestly.  Her
+jealousy of Anna seemed very small and mean, and she felt anxious to
+atone for it.
+
+"That's well," said Mr Goodwin, with a contented air.  "I know you will
+do what you promise; and now it's my turn to play the sonata, and yours
+to listen."
+
+As the first plaintive notes of the violin filled the little room, Delia
+threw herself into the window-seat, leaned back her head, and gave
+herself up to enjoyment.
+
+The Professor's playing meant many things to her.  It meant a journey
+into another country where all good and noble things were possible;
+where vexations and petty cares could not enter, nor anything that
+thwarted and baffled.  It meant a sure refuge for a while from the small
+details of her life in Dornton, which she sometimes found so wearisome.
+The warning tones of the church clock checked her flight through these
+happy regions, and brought her down to earth just as the Professor's
+last note died away.
+
+"Oh, how late it is?" she exclaimed, as she started up and put on her
+hat.  "Good-bye, Professor.  Oh, if I could only make it speak like
+that!"
+
+"Patience, patience," he said, with his kind smile; "we all hear and see
+better things than we can express, you know, but that will come to us
+all some day."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+ANNA MAKES FRIENDS.
+
+  Sweet language will multiply friends; and a fair-speaking tongue will
+  increase kind greetings.--_Ecclesiasticus_.
+
+Delia kept her promise in mind through all the various duties and
+occupations of the next few days, and wondered how she should carry it
+out.  She began, apart from the wish to please the Professor, to have a
+great desire to know Anna for her own sake.  Would they be friends? and
+what sort of girl was she?  Mr Goodwin had told her so very little.
+Affectionate, sweet-tempered, yielding.  She might be all that without
+being very interesting.  Still she hoped they might be able to like each
+other; for although the Hunts had a wide acquaintance, Delia had few
+friends of her own age, nor any one with whom she felt in entire
+sympathy, except the Professor.  Delia was not popular in Dornton, and
+people regretted that such a "sweet" woman as Mrs Hunt should have a
+daughter who was often so blunt in her manners, and so indisposed to
+make herself pleasant.  Her life, therefore, though full of busy
+matters, was rather lonely, and she would have made it still more so, if
+possible, by shutting herself up with her violin and her books.  The
+bustling sociabilities of her home, however, prevented this, and she was
+constantly obliged, with inward revolt, to leave the things she loved
+for some social occasion, or to pick up the dropped stitches of Mrs
+Hunt's household affairs.
+
+There were endless little matters from morning till night for Delia to
+attend to, and it was only by getting up very early that she found any
+time at all for her studies and her music.  In winter this was hard
+work, and progress with her violin almost impossible for stiff, cold
+fingers; but no one at her home took Delia's music seriously: it was an
+accomplishment, a harmless amusement, but by no means to be allowed to
+take time from more important affairs.  It did not matter whether she
+practised or not, but it did matter that she should be ready to make
+calls with her mother, or to carry soup to someone in Mrs Hunt's
+district who had been overlooked.  She would have given up her music
+altogether if her courage had not been revived from time to time by Mr
+Goodwin, and her ambition rekindled by hearing him play; as it was, she
+always came back to it with fresh heart and hope after seeing him.
+
+For nearly a week after her last visit, Delia awoke every morning with a
+determination to walk over to Waverley, and each day passed without her
+having done so.  At last, however, chance arranged her meeting with
+Anna.  Coming into the drawing-room one afternoon in search of her
+mother, she found, not Mrs Hunt, but a tall girl of fourteen, with
+light yellow hair, sitting in the window, with a patient expression, as
+though she had been waiting there some time.  Delia advanced
+uncertainly: she knew who it was; there was only one stranger likely to
+appear just now.  It must be Anna Forrest.  But it was so odd to find
+her there, just when she had been thinking of her so much, that for a
+moment she hardly knew what to say.
+
+The girl, however, was quite at her ease.
+
+"I am Anna Forrest," she said; "Mrs Hunt asked me to come in--she went
+to find you.  You are Delia, are you not?"
+
+She had a bright, frank manner, with an entire absence of shyness, which
+attracted Delia immediately.  She found, on inquiry, that Mrs Hunt had
+met Anna in the town with her aunt, and had asked her to come in.  Mrs
+Forrest had driven home, and Anna was to walk back after tea.
+
+"And have you been waiting long?" asked Delia.
+
+"It must have been an hour, I think," said Anna, "because I heard the
+church clock.  But it hasn't seemed long," she added, hastily; "I've
+been looking out at the pigeons in the garden."
+
+Delia felt no doubt whatever that Mrs Hunt had been called off in some
+other direction, and had completely forgotten her guest.  However, here
+was Anna at last.
+
+"Come up-stairs and take off your hat in my room," she said.
+
+Delia's room was at the top of the house--a garret with a window looking
+across the red-tiled roofs of the town to the distant meadows, through
+which glistened the crooked silver line of the river Dorn.  She was fond
+of standing at this window in her few idle moments, with her arms
+crossed on the high ledge, and her gaze directed far-away: to it were
+confided all the hopes, and wishes, and dreams, which were, as a rule,
+carefully locked up in her own breast, and of which only one person in
+Dornton even guessed the existence.
+
+Anna glanced curiously round as she entered.  The room had rather a bare
+look, after the bright prettiness of Waverley, though it contained all
+Delia's most cherished possessions--a shelf of books, a battered old
+brown desk, her music-stand, and her violin.
+
+"Oh," she exclaimed, as her eye fell on the last, "can you play the
+violin?  Will you play to me?"
+
+Delia hesitated: she was not fond of playing to people who did not care
+for music, though she was often obliged to do so; but Anna pressed her
+so earnestly that she did not like to be ungracious, and, taking up her
+violin, played a short German air, which she thought might please her
+visitor.
+
+Anna meanwhile paid more attention to her new acquaintance than to her
+performance, and looked at her with great interest.  There was something
+about Delia's short, compact figure; her firm chin; the crisp, wavy hair
+which rose from her broad, low forehead like a sort of halo, which gave
+an impression of strength and reliability not unmingled with self-will.
+This last quality, however, was not so marked while she was playing.
+Her face then was at its best, and its usual somewhat defiant air
+softened into a wistfulness which was almost beauty.  Before the tune
+was finished, Anna was quite ready to rush into a close friendship, if
+Delia would respond to it, but of this she felt rather in doubt.
+
+"How beautifully you play!" she exclaimed, as Delia dropped her bow, and
+shut up her music-book.
+
+A very little smile curled Delia's lips.
+
+"That shows one thing," she answered, "you don't know much about music,
+or you would not call my playing beautiful."
+
+"Well, it sounds so to me," said Anna, a little abashed by this
+directness of speech, "but I certainly don't know much about music; Aunt
+Sarah says I need not go on with it while I am here."
+
+"I play very badly," said Delia; "if you wish to hear beautiful playing,
+you must listen to your grandfather."
+
+"Must I?" said Anna, vaguely.  "I thought," she added, "that he played
+the organ in Dornton church."
+
+"So he does," said Delia, "but he plays the violin too.  And he gives
+lessons.  He taught me."
+
+She looked searchingly at her companion, whose fair face reddened a
+little.
+
+"I owe everything to him," continued Delia; "without what he has done
+for me my life would be dark.  He brought light into it when he taught
+me to play and to love music."
+
+"Did he?" said Anna, wonderingly.
+
+She began to feel that she did not understand Delia; she was speaking a
+strange language, which evidently meant something to her, for her eyes
+sparkled, and her brown cheek glowed with excitement.
+
+"We ought to be proud in Dornton," Delia went on, "to have your
+grandfather living here, but we're not worthy of him.  His genius would
+place him in a high position among people who could understand him.
+Here it's just taken for granted."
+
+Anna grew more puzzled and surprised still.  Delia's tone upset the idea
+she began to have that her grandfather was a person to be pitied.  This
+was a different way of speaking of him, and it was impossible to get
+used to it all at once.  At Waverley he was hardly mentioned at all, and
+she had come to avoid doing so also, from a feeling that her aunt
+disliked it.  She could not suddenly bring herself to look upon him as a
+genius, and be proud of him, though she had every wish to please Delia.
+
+"What a pity," she said, hesitatingly, "that he is so poor, and has to
+live in such a very little house, if he is so clever!"
+
+"Poor?" exclaimed Delia, indignantly; then, checking herself, she added,
+quietly, "It depends on what you call poor.  What the Professor
+possesses is worth all the silver and gold and big houses in the world.
+And that's just what the Dornton people don't understand.  Why, the rich
+ones actually _patronise_ him, and think he is fortunate in giving their
+children music-lessons."
+
+Delia began to look so wrathful as she went on, that Anna longed to
+change the subject to one which might be more soothing.  She could not
+at all understand why her companion was so angry.  It was certainly a
+pity that Mr Goodwin was obliged to give lessons, but if he must, it
+was surely a good thing that people were willing to employ him.  While
+she was pondering this in silence, she was relieved by a welcome
+proposal from Delia that they should go down-stairs, and have tea in the
+garden.  "Afterwards," she added, "I will show you the way to Waverley
+over the fields."
+
+In the garden it was pleasant and peaceful enough.  Tea was ready, under
+the shade of the medlar tree.  The pigeons whirled and fluttered about
+over the red roofs all around, settling sometimes on the lawn for a few
+moments, bowing and cooing to each other.  Mrs Hunt, meanwhile, chatted
+on in a comfortable way, hardly settling longer on one spot in her talk
+than the pigeons; from the affairs of her district to the affairs of the
+nation, from an anecdote about the rector to a receipt for scones, she
+rambled gently on; but at last coming to a favourite topic, she made a
+longer rest.  Anna was glad of it, for it dealt with people of whom she
+had been wishing to hear--her mother and her grandfather.  Mrs Hunt had
+much to tell of the former, whom she had known from the time when she
+had been a girl of Anna's age until her marriage with Mr Bernard
+Forrest.  She became quite enthusiastic as one recollection after the
+other followed.
+
+"A sweeter face and a sweeter character than Prissy Goodwin's could not
+be imagined," she said.  "We were all sorry when she left Dornton, and
+every one felt for Mr Goodwin.  Poor man, he's aged a great deal during
+the last few years.  I remember him as upright as a dart, and always in
+such good spirits!"
+
+"I have a portrait of my mother," said Anna, "a miniature, painted just
+after her marriage.  It's very pretty indeed."
+
+"It should be, if it's a good likeness," said Mrs Hunt.  "There's never
+been such a pretty girl in Dornton since your mother went away.  I
+should like to see that portrait.  When you come over again, which I
+hope will be soon, you must bring it with you, and then we will have
+some more talk about your dear mother."
+
+Anna readily promised, and as she walked up the High Street by Delia's
+side, her mind was full of all that she had heard that afternoon.  It
+had interested and pleased her very much, but somehow it was difficult
+to connect Mr Goodwin and his dusty, little house with the picture
+formed in her mind of her beautiful mother.  If only she were alive now!
+
+"I suppose you were a baby when my mother married," she said, suddenly
+turning to her companion.
+
+"I was two years old," replied Delia, smiling, "but though I can't
+remember your mother, I can remember your grandfather when I was quite a
+little girl.  He was always so good to me.  Long before he began to
+teach me to play, I used to toddle by his side to church, and wait there
+while he practised on the organ.  I think it was that which made me
+first love music."
+
+"It seems so odd," said Anna, hesitatingly, "that I should be his
+grandchild, and yet that he should be almost a stranger to me; while
+you--"
+
+"But," put in Delia, quickly, for she thought that Anna was naturally
+feeling jealous, "you won't be strangers long now; you will come over
+often, and soon you will feel as though you'd known him always.  To tell
+you the truth," she added, lightly, "I felt dreadfully jealous of you
+when I first heard you were coming."
+
+Jealous!  How strange that sounded to Anna; she glanced quickly at her
+companion, and saw that she was evidently in earnest.
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure, about coming to Dornton often," she said,
+"because, you see, Aunt Sarah is so tremendously busy, and she likes to
+do certain things on certain days; but, of course, I shall come as often
+as I can.  I do hope," she added, earnestly, "I shall be able to see you
+sometimes, and that you will often come over to Waverley."
+
+Delia was silent.
+
+"You see," continued Anna, "I like being at Waverley very much, and
+they're very kind indeed; but it _is_ a little lonely, and if you don't
+mind, I should be _so_ glad to have you for a friend."
+
+She turned to her companion with a bright blush, and an appealing look
+that was almost humble.  Delia was touched.  She had begun to think Anna
+rather cold and indifferent in the way she had talked about coming to
+Dornton; but, after all, it was unreasonable to expect her to feel warm
+affection for a grandfather who was almost a stranger.  When she knew
+him she would not be able to help loving him, and, meanwhile, she
+herself must not forget that she had promised the Professor to be Anna's
+friend; no doubt she had said truly that, she was lonely at Waverley.
+She met Anna's advances cordially, therefore, and by the time they had
+turned off the high-road into the fields, the two girls were chatting
+gaily, and quite at their ease with each other.  Everything in this
+field-walk was new and delightful to Anna, and her pleasure increased by
+feeling that she had made a friend of her own age.  The commonest
+wild-flowers on her path were wonderful to her unaccustomed eyes.  Delia
+must tell their names.  She must stop to pick some.  They were prettier
+even than Aunt Sarah's flowers at Waverley.  What were those growing in
+the hedge?  She ran about admiring and exclaiming until, near the end of
+the last field, the outbuildings of Leas Farm came in sight, which stood
+in a lane dividing the farmer's property from Mr Forrest's.
+
+"There's Mr Oswald," said Delia, suddenly.
+
+Anna looked up.  Across the field towards them, mounted on a stout, grey
+cob, came the farmer at a slow jog-trot.  So much had happened since her
+arrival at Waverley, that she had now almost forgotten the events of
+that first evening, and all idea of telling her aunt of her acquaintance
+with Mr Oswald had passed from her mind.  As he stopped to greet the
+girls, however, and make a few leisurely remarks about the weather, it
+all came freshly to her memory.
+
+"Not been over to see my cows yet, missie," he said, checking his pony
+again, after he had started, and leaning back in his saddle.  "My
+Daisy's been looking for you every day.  You'd be more welcome than
+ever, now I know who 'twas I had the pleasure of driving the other day--
+for your mother's sake, as well as your own."
+
+Delia turned an inquiring glance on her companion, as they continued
+their way.  Would she say anything?  Recollecting Mrs Winn's story, she
+rather hoped she would.  But Anna, her gay spirits quite checked, walked
+soberly on in perfect silence.  It made her uncomfortable to remember
+that she had never undeceived Aunt Sarah about that fly.  What a stupid
+little mistake it had been!  Nothing wrong in what she had done at all,
+if she had only been quite open about it.  What would Delia think of it,
+she wondered.  She glanced sideways at her.  What a very firm, decided
+mouth and chin she had: she looked as though she were never afraid of
+anything, and always quite sure to do right.  Perhaps, if she knew of
+this, she would look as scornful and angry as she had that afternoon, in
+speaking of the Dornton people.  That would be dreadful.  Anna could not
+risk that.  She wanted Delia to like and admire her very much, and on no
+account to think badly of her.  So she checked the faint impulse she had
+had towards the confession of her foolishness, and was almost relieved
+when they reached the point where Delia was to turn back to Dornton.
+They parted affectionately, with many hopes and promises as to their
+meeting again soon, and Anna stood at the white gate watching her new
+friend until she was out of sight.
+
+Then she looked round her.  She was in quite a strange land, for
+although she had now been some weeks at Waverley, she had not yet
+explored the fields between the village and Dornton.  On her right, a
+little way down the grassy lane, stood Mr Oswald's house, a solid,
+square building, of old, red brick, pleasantly surrounded by barns,
+cattle-sheds, and outbuildings, all of a substantial, prosperous
+appearance.  It crossed Anna's mind that she should very much like to
+see the farmer's cows, as he had proposed, but she had not the courage
+to present herself at the house and ask for Daisy.  She must content
+herself by looking in at the farmyard gate as she passed it.  A little
+farther on, Delia had pointed out another gate, on the other side of the
+lane, which led straight into the Vicarage field, and towards this she
+now made her way.
+
+She was unusually thoughtful as she sauntered slowly down the lane, for
+her visit to Dornton had brought back thoughts of her mother and
+grandfather, which had lately been kept in the background.  She had
+to-day heard them spoken of with affection and admiration, instead of
+being passed over in silence.  Waverley was very pleasant.  Aunt Sarah
+was kind, and her Uncle John indulgent, but about her relations in
+Dornton there was scarcely a word spoken.  It was strange.  She
+remembered Delia's sparkling eyes as she talked of Mr Goodwin.  That
+was stranger still.  In the two visits Anna had paid to him, she had not
+discovered much to admire, and she had not been pleased with the
+appearance of Number 4 Back Row.  It had seemed to her then that people
+called him "poor Mr Goodwin" with reason: he was poor, evidently, or he
+would not live all alone in such a very little house, with no servants,
+and work so hard, and get so tired and dusty as he had looked on that
+first evening she had seen him.  Yet, perhaps, when she knew him as well
+as Delia did, she should be able to feel proud of him; and, at any rate,
+he stood in need of love and attention.
+
+She felt drawn to the Hunts and the Dornton people, who had known and
+loved her mother, and she resolved to make more efforts to go there
+frequently, and to risk displeasing Aunt Sarah and upsetting her
+arrangements.  It would be very disagreeable, for she knew well that
+neither Mr Goodwin nor Dornton were favourite subjects at Waverley; and
+when things were going smoothly and pleasantly, it was so much nicer to
+leave them alone.  However, she would try, and just then arriving at the
+farmyard gate, she dismissed those tiresome thoughts, and leaned over to
+look with great interest at the creatures within.  As she did so, a
+little girl came out of the farmhouse and came slowly down the lane
+towards her.  She was about twelve years old, very childish-looking for
+her age, and dressed in a fresh, yellow cotton frock, nearly covered by
+a big, white pinafore.  Her little, round head was bare, and her black
+hair closely cropped like a boy's.  She came on with very careful steps,
+her whole attention fixed on a plate she held firmly with both hands,
+which had a mug on it full of something she was evidently afraid to
+spill.  Her eyes were so closely bent on this, that until she was near
+Anna she did not see her; and then, with a start, she came suddenly to a
+stand-still, not forgetting to preserve the balance of the mug and
+plate.  It was a very nice, open, little face she raised towards Anna,
+with a childish and innocent expression, peppered thickly with freckles
+like a bird's egg, especially over the blunt, round nose.
+
+"Did you come from the Vicarage?" she inquired, gravely.
+
+"I'm staying there," replied Anna, "but I came over the fields just now
+from Dornton."
+
+"Those are puppa's fields," said the child, "and this is puppa's farm."
+
+"You are Daisy Oswald, I suppose?" said Anna.  "Your father asked me to
+come and see your cows."  The little girl nodded.
+
+"I know what your name is," she said.  "You're Miss Anna Forrest.  Puppa
+fetched you over from the station.  You came quick.  Puppa was driving
+Strawberry Molly that day.  No one can do it as quick as her."  Then,
+with a critical glance, "I can ride her.  Can you ride?"
+
+"No, indeed, I can't," replied Anna.  "But won't you show me your cows?"
+
+"Why, it isn't milking-time!" said Daisy, lifting her brows with a
+little surprise; "they're all out in the field."  She considered Anna
+thoughtfully for a moment, and then added, jerking her head towards the
+next gate, "Won't you come and sit on that gate?  I often sit on that
+gate.  Most every evening."
+
+The invitation was made with so much friendliness that Anna could not
+refuse it.
+
+"I can't stay long," she said, "but I don't mind a little while."
+
+Arrived at the gate, Daisy pushed mug and plate into Anna's hands.
+
+"Hold 'em a minute," she said, as she climbed nimbly up and disposed
+herself comfortably on the top bar.  "Now"--smoothing her pinafore
+tightly over her knees--"give 'em to me, and come up and sit alongside,
+and we'll have 'em together.  That'll be fine."
+
+Anna was by no means so active and neat in her movements as her
+companion, for she was not used to climbing gates; but after some
+struggles, watched by Daisy with a chuckle of amusement, she succeeded
+in placing herself at her side.  In this position they sat facing the
+Vicarage garden at the end of the field.  It looked quite near, and Anna
+hoped that Aunt Sarah might not happen to come this way just at present.
+
+"How nice it is to sit on a gate!" she said; "I never climbed a gate
+before."
+
+Daisy stared.
+
+"Never climbed a gate before!" she repeated; "why ever not?"
+
+"Well, you see, I've always lived in a town," said Anna, "where you
+don't need to climb gates."
+
+Daisy nodded.
+
+"I know," she said, "like Dornton.  Now there's two lots of bread and
+butter, one for me and one for you, and we must take turns to drink.
+You first."
+
+"But I've had tea, thank you," said Anna.  "I won't take any of yours."
+
+Daisy looked a little cast down at this refusal, but soon set to work
+heartily on her simple meal alone, stopping in the intervals of her
+bites and sups to ask and answer questions.
+
+"Was the town you lived in _nicer_ than Dornton?" she asked.
+
+"It was not a bit like it," replied Anna.  "Much, much larger.  And
+always full of carts, and carriages, and people."
+
+"My!" exclaimed Daisy.  "Any shops?"
+
+"Lots and lots.  And at night, when they were all lighted up, and the
+lamps in the streets too, it was as light as day."
+
+"That must have been fine," said Daisy, "I like shops.  Were you sorry
+to come away?"
+
+Anna shook her head.
+
+"Do you like being at Waverley?" pursued the inquiring Daisy, tilting up
+the mug so that her brown eyes came just above the rim; "there's no one
+to play with there, but I s'pose you don't mind.  I haven't any brothers
+and sisters either.  There's only me.  But then there's all the animals.
+Do you like animals?"
+
+"I think I should very much," answered Anna, "but you can't have many
+animals in London."
+
+"Well," said Daisy, who had now finished the last crumb of bread and the
+last drop of milk, "if you like, I'll show you my very own calf!"
+
+"I'm afraid it's getting late," said Anna, hesitatingly.
+
+"'Twon't take you not five minutes altogether," said Daisy, scrambling
+hastily down from the gate.  "Come along."
+
+Anna followed her back to the farmyard, where she pushed open the door
+of a shed, and beckoned her companion in.  All was dim and shadowy, and
+there was a smell of new milk and hay.  At first Anna could see nothing,
+but soon she made out, penned into a corner, a little, brown calf, with
+a white star on its forehead; it turned its dewy, dark eyes
+reproachfully upon them as they entered.
+
+"You can stroke its nose," said its owner, patronisingly.
+
+"Shall you call it Daisy?" asked Anna, reaching over the hurdles to pat
+the soft, velvety muzzle.
+
+"Mother says we mustn't have no more Daisies," said its mistress,
+shaking her little, round head gravely.  "You see puppa called all the
+cows Daisy, after me, for ever so long.  There was Old Daisy, and Young
+Daisy, and Red Daisy, and White Daisy, and Big Daisy, and Little Daisy,
+and a whole lot more.  So this one is to be called something different.
+Mother say Stars would be best."
+
+As she spoke, a distant clock began to tell out the hour.  Anna counted
+the strokes with anxiety.  Actually seven!  The dinner hour at Waverley,
+and whatever haste she made, she must be terribly late.
+
+"Ah, I must go," she said, "I ought not to have stayed so long.
+Good-bye.  Thank you."
+
+"Come over again," said Daisy, calling after her as she ran to the gate.
+"Come at milking-time, and I'll show you all the lot."
+
+Anna nodded and smiled, and ran off as fast as she could.  This was her
+first transgression at the Vicarage.  What would Aunt Sarah say?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+DIFFICULTIES.
+
+  No man can serve two masters.
+
+Anna found her life at Waverley bright and pleasant as the time went on,
+in spite of Aunt Sarah's strict rules and regulations.  There was only
+one matter which did not become easy, and that was her nearer
+acquaintance with her grandfather.  Somehow, when she asked to go to
+Dornton, there was always a difficulty of some kind--Mrs Forrest could
+not spare the time to go with her, or the pony-cart to take her, or a
+maid to walk so far, and she must not go alone.  At first, mindful of
+her resolves, she made efforts to overcome those objections, but being
+always repulsed, she soon ceased them, and found it easier and far more
+pleasant to leave her aunt to arrange the visits herself.
+
+In this way they became very rare, and when they did take place, they
+were not very satisfactory, for Anna and her grandfather were seldom
+left alone.  She did not, therefore, grow to be any fonder of Back Row,
+or to associate her visits there with anything pleasant.  Indeed, few as
+they were, she soon began to find them rather irksome, and to be
+relieved when they were over.  This was the only subject on which she
+was not perfectly confidential to her new friend, Delia, who was now her
+constant companion, for although Anna went very seldom to Dornton, Mrs
+Forrest made no objection to their meeting often elsewhere.
+
+So Delia would run over to the Vicarage whenever she could spare time,
+or join Anna in long country rambles, and on these occasions it was she
+who listened, and Anna who did most of the talking.  Delia heard all
+about her life in London, and how much better she liked the country; all
+about Aunt Sarah's punctuality, and how difficult it was to go to
+Dornton; but about the Professor she heard very little.  Always on the
+lookout for slights on his behalf, and jealous for his dignity, she soon
+began to feel a little sore on his account, and to have a suspicion that
+Anna's heart was not in the matter.  For her own part, she knew that not
+all the aunts and rules in the world would have kept her from paying him
+the attention that was his due.  As the visits became fewer this feeling
+increased, and sometimes gave a severity to her manner which Anna found
+hard to bear, and it finally led to their first disagreement.
+
+"Can you come over to church at Dornton with me this evening?" asked
+Delia one afternoon, as she and Anna met at the stile half-way across
+the fields.
+
+"I should like to," said Anna, readily, "very much indeed, if Aunt Sarah
+doesn't mind."
+
+"I'll walk back with you as far as this afterwards," said Delia.  "You
+would see your grandfather.  You've never heard him play the organ yet."
+
+"I don't _suppose_ aunt would mind," said Anna, hesitatingly, her fair
+face flushing a little.
+
+"Well," said Delia, "you can run back and ask her.  I'll wait for you
+here.  You will just have time."
+
+The bells of Saint Mary's church began to sound as she spoke.
+
+"Only you must go at once," she added, "or we shall be too late."
+
+Still Anna hesitated.  She hated the idea of asking Aunt Sarah, and
+seeing her mouth stiffen into that hard line which was so disagreeable;
+but it was almost as bad to face Delia, standing there, bolt upright,
+with her dark eyes fixed so unflinchingly upon her.
+
+"I know," she said, appealingly, "that Aunt Sarah _has_ arranged for me
+to go to Dornton next week."
+
+"Oh," said Delia, coldly.
+
+"And," pursued Anna, turning away from her companion and stooping to
+pick a flower, "she does like me, you know, to go to the service at
+Waverley with her.  She says uncle prefers it."
+
+Delia's glance rested for a moment in silence on the bending figure,
+with the pale yellow hair outspread on the shoulders gleaming in the
+sunshine; then she said in rather a hard voice:
+
+"The fact is, I suppose, you don't _want_ to go.  If so, you had better
+have said so at first."
+
+Anna rose quickly, and faced her friend:
+
+"It's unkind, Delia," she exclaimed, "to say that.  I _do_ want to go.
+You know I like to be with you--and I should like to go to Dornton
+church much better than Waverley."
+
+"Then why don't you ask Mrs Forrest?" said Delia, calmly.  "She can't
+mind your going if I walk back with you.  It's worth the trouble, if you
+want to see your grandfather."
+
+Anna cast down her eyes and fidgeted with the flowers in her belt.
+
+"You don't understand," she began, rather nervously, "how difficult it
+is to ask Aunt Sarah some things--"
+
+"But this is quite a right, reasonable thing," interrupted Delia;
+"there's nothing wrong in wishing to see your grandfather sometimes.  Of
+course, if you never ask Mrs Forrest, she thinks you don't care about
+it."
+
+"I do ask," said Anna.  "I have often asked; but, you know I told you,
+Delia, Aunt Sarah never likes me to go to Dornton."
+
+"Then you mean to give it up, I suppose," said Delia, coldly.
+
+"If I'm staying with Aunt Sarah, I suppose I ought to do as she wishes,"
+said Anna; "but, of course, I shan't give it up entirely.  She doesn't
+wish me to do that."
+
+Delia stood for a moment in silence, her eyes fixed on Anna's pretty,
+downcast face.  The sound of the church bells came softly to them over
+the fields from Dornton, and "Well," she said, with a little sigh, "I
+mustn't stay, or I shall be late, and I promised to meet the Professor
+after church.  He half expects to see you with me.  What shall I say to
+him?"
+
+"Oh, Delia!" cried Anna, looking up into her companion's face, "I _do_
+wish I could go with you."
+
+"It's too late now," said Delia, turning away.  "Good-bye."
+
+Anna lingered at the stile.  Would not Delia turn round once and nod
+kindly to her, as she always did when they parted?  No.  Her compact
+figure went steadily on its way, the shoulders very square, the head
+held high and defiantly.  Anna could not bear it.  She jumped over the
+stile and ran after her friend.  "Delia!" she called out.  Delia turned
+and waited.  "Don't be cross with me," pleaded Anna.  "After all, it
+isn't my fault; and I _should_ like to go with you so much.  And--and
+give my love to grandfather, please.  I'm going to see him next week."
+
+She took hold of Delia's reluctant hand and kissed her cheek.  Delia
+allowed the embrace, but did not return it.  Her heart was hot within
+her.  Mrs Winn had said that Anna was not straightforward.  Was it
+true?
+
+Anna had not much time for any sort of reflection, for she had to get
+back to Waverley as fast as she could, and, in spite of her haste, the
+bell stopped just as she reached the garden gate, and she knew that her
+aunt would have started for church without her.  It was barely five
+minutes' walk, but she had to smooth her hair, and find some gloves, and
+make herself fit for Mrs Forrest's critical eye, and all this took some
+time.  When she pushed open the heavy door and entered timidly, her
+footfall sounding unnaturally loud, the usual sprinkling of evening
+worshippers was already collected, and her uncle had begun to read the
+service.  Anna crept into a seat.  She knew that she had committed a
+very grave fault in Mrs Forrest's sight, and she half wished that she
+had made up her mind to go to Dornton with Delia.  She wanted to please
+every one, and she had pleased no one; it was very hard.  As she walked
+back to the Vicarage with her aunt after service, she was quite prepared
+for the grave voice in which she began to speak.
+
+"How was it you were late this evening, Anna?"
+
+"I'm very sorry, aunt," she answered.  "I was talking to Delia Hunt in
+the field, and until we heard the bell, we didn't know how late it was."
+
+"If you must be unpunctual at all," said Mrs Forrest--"and I suppose
+young people will be thoughtless sometimes--I must beg that you will at
+least be careful not to let it occur at church time.  Nothing displeases
+your uncle more than the irreverence of coming in late as you did
+to-day.  It is a bad example to the whole village, besides being very
+wrong in itself.  As a whole," she continued, after a pause, "I have
+very little fault to find with your behaviour; you try to please me, I
+think, in every respect, but in this matter of punctuality, Anna, there
+is room for improvement.  Now, you were a quarter of an hour late for
+dinner one night.  You had been with Delia Hunt then too.  I begin to
+think you run about too much with her: it seems to make you forgetful
+and careless."
+
+"But," said Anna, impulsively, "my being late had nothing at all to do
+with Delia this time.  I was with Daisy Oswald."
+
+"Daisy Oswald!" repeated Mrs Forrest, in a tone of surprise.  "When did
+you make Daisy Oswald's acquaintance?"
+
+She turned sharply to her niece with a searching glance.  Anna blushed
+and hesitated a little.
+
+"I--we--Delia and I met her father as we were walking home from Dornton.
+He asked me to go and see his cows; and then, after Delia had left me,
+I met his little girl in the lane just near the farm."
+
+Mrs Forrest was silent.  She could not exactly say that there was
+anything wrong in all this, but she highly disapproved of it.  It was
+most undesirable that her niece should be running about the fields and
+lanes, and picking up acquaintances in this way.  Daisy Oswald was a
+very nice little girl, and there was no harm done at present, but it
+must not continue.  The thing to do, she silently concluded, was to
+provide Anna with suitable occupations and companions which would make
+so much liberty impossible for the future.
+
+To her relief, Anna heard no more of the matter, but it was easy to see
+that Aunt Sarah had not liked the idea of her being with Daisy.  It was
+uncomfortable to remember that she had not been quite open about it.
+Somehow, since that first foolish concealment, she had constantly been
+forced into little crooked paths where she could not walk quite
+straight, but she consoled herself by the reflection that she had not
+told any untruth.
+
+A few days later Mrs Forrest, returning from a drive with her face full
+of satisfaction, called Anna to her in her sitting-room.  She had been
+able, she said, to make a very nice arrangement for her to have some
+lessons in German and French with the Palmers.  Miss Wilson, their
+governess, had been most kind about it, and it was settled that Anna
+should go to Pynes twice every week for a couple of hours.
+
+"It will be an immense advantage to you," concluded Mrs Forrest, "to
+learn with other girls, and I hope, beside the interest of the lessons,
+that you will make friendships which will be both useful and pleasant.
+Isabel Palmer is about your own age, and her sister a little older.
+They will be nice companions for you, and I hope you will see a good
+deal of them."
+
+From this time Anna's life was very much altered.  Gradually, as her
+interests and amusements became connected with the Palmers and all that
+went on at their house, she saw less and less of Delia, and it was now
+Mrs Forrest who had to remind her when a visit to Dornton was due.
+There were no more country rambles, or meetings at the stile, and no
+more confidential chats.  Anna had other matters to attend to, and if
+she were not occupied with lessons, there was always some engagement at
+Pynes which must be kept.  And yet, she often thought, with a regretful
+sigh, there was really no one like Delia!  Isabel Palmer was very
+pleasant, and there was a great deal she enjoyed very much at Pynes, but
+in her heart she remained true to her first friend.  If only it had been
+possible to please every one!  If only Delia would be kind and agreeable
+when they did meet, instead of looking so cold and proud!  By degrees
+Anna grew to dread seeing her, instead of looking forward to it as one
+of her greatest pleasures at Waverley.  Everything connected with Pynes,
+on the contrary, was made so easy and pleasant.  Aunt Sarah's lips never
+looked straight and thin when she asked to go there, and Isabel Palmer
+was sure of a welcome at any time.  The pony-cart could nearly always be
+had if it were wanted in that direction, though it seemed so
+inconvenient for it to take the road to Dornton.  And then, with the
+Palmers there was no chance of severe looks on the subject of Mr
+Goodwin.  Did they know, Anna wondered, that he was her grandfather?
+Perhaps not, for they had lived at Pynes only a short time.  There was
+no risk of meeting him there, for Saturday, when he gave Clara a
+music-lesson, was a specially busy day with Mrs Forrest, and she always
+wanted Anna at the Vicarage.
+
+It was strange that Anna should have come to calling it a "risk" to meet
+her grandfather, but it was true.  Not all at once, but little by
+little, since her separation from Delia, the habit of dismissing him
+from her thoughts, as well as keeping silence about him, had grown
+strong within her.  At first Delia's scornful face often seemed to flash
+before her in the midst of some gaiety or enjoyment.  "You are not
+worthy of him," it seemed to say.  But it had been so often driven away
+that it now came very seldom, and when it did, it looked so pale and
+shadowy that it had no reality about it.  Anna threw herself into the
+amusements which her new friends put in her way, and determined to be
+happy in spite of uncomfortable recollections.
+
+On her side, Delia had now come to the swift decision natural to her age
+and character.  Anna was unworthy.  She had been tried and found
+wanting.  Gold had been offered to her, and she had chosen tinsel.  It
+was not surprising that the Palmers should be preferred to herself, but
+that any one related to the Professor, able to see and know him, should
+be capable of turning aside and neglecting him for others, was a thing
+she could neither understand nor bear with patience.  She ceased to
+speak of it when she met Anna, and preserved a haughty silence on the
+subject, but her manner and looks expressed disapproval plainly enough.
+The disapproval grew stronger as time went on, for although no word of
+complaint ever passed Mr Goodwin's lips, Delia soon felt sure that he
+longed to see more of his grandchild.  They often talked of Anna, the
+Professor listening eagerly to any news of her or account of her doings.
+No hint of disappointment was ever given, but affection has quick
+instincts, and Delia was able to understand her old friend's silence as
+well as his speech.  She ran in to Number 4 Back Row one afternoon, and
+found him looking rather uncertainly and nervously at his tea-table,
+which Mrs Cooper had just prepared in her usual hurried manner--
+slapping down the cups and plates with a sort of spiteful emphasis, and
+leaving the cloth awry.  He looked relieved to see Delia.
+
+"You would perhaps put things a little straight, and make it look
+nicer," he said.  "I don't know how it is, but Mrs Cooper seems to
+spoil the look of things so."
+
+"You expect a visitor?" said Delia, as she began to alter the
+arrangement of the little meal, and noticed two cups and plates.
+
+"Yes," said the Professor, half shyly.  "I got some water-cresses and
+some fresh eggs.  And that kind Mrs Winn sent me some trout this
+morning.  Mrs Cooper promised to come in presently and cook them."
+
+Delia observed that the room had quite a holiday air of neatness.  There
+was no dust to be seen anywhere, and a special, high-backed arm-chair,
+which was not in general use, was now drawn up to one side of the
+tea-table.
+
+"That was Prissy's chair," he continued, looking at it affectionately;
+"she always sat there, and I thought I should like to see Anna in it."
+
+"Oh, is Anna coming to tea with you?" exclaimed Delia.  "I _am_ glad.
+Is she coming alone?"
+
+The Professor nodded.  There was a faint pink flush of excitement on his
+cheek.  His hand trembled a little as he touched the bunch of mignonette
+which he had put on the table.
+
+"My flowers never do very well," he said, trying to speak in an off-hand
+tone; "they don't get enough sun.  And then, the other day I had to pour
+my coffee out of the window, and I forgot that the border was just
+underneath.  I daresay it didn't agree with them."
+
+"I suppose Mrs Cooper made it so badly that even you could not drink
+it?" said Delia; "but it's certainly hard that she should poison your
+flowers as well.  Why don't you tell her about it?"
+
+"Oh, she does her best, she does her best," said the Professor, quickly;
+"I wouldn't hurt her feelings for the world."
+
+"Well, she won't improve at that rate," said Delia; "it's a good thing
+every one is not so patient as you are.  Now"--surveying her
+arrangements--"I think it all looks very nice, and as I go home I'll
+call in at Mrs Cooper's and remind her about the fish.  Perhaps I shall
+have time to bring you a few more flowers before Anna comes."
+
+Quite excited at the idea of the Professor's pleasure at having Anna all
+to himself for a little while, she quickly performed her errands, and
+finally left him in a state of complete preparation, with roses upon his
+table, and the trout cooking in the kitchen; he himself, stationed at
+the window, meanwhile pulling his watch out of his pocket every two or
+three minutes to see if it were time for his guest to arrive.
+
+During the week which followed, Delia thought more kindly of Anna than
+she had done for some time past.  Perhaps, after all, she had judged her
+too hastily; perhaps she had been hard and unjust; very likely this
+meeting would be the beginning of a happier state of things between Mr
+Goodwin and his grandchild.
+
+"Did you have a pleasant evening on Saturday?" she asked, when they next
+met.
+
+Anna was sitting in the Palmers' pony-cart, outside a shop in the town,
+waiting for Isabel: she blushed brightly when she saw Delia, and looked
+rather puzzled at her question.
+
+"Where?" she said, vaguely.  "Oh, I remember.  I was to have had tea
+with grandfather, but aunt made another engagement for me, and I didn't
+go."
+
+Delia's face clouded over with the disapproving expression Anna knew so
+well.
+
+"He didn't mind a bit," she said, leaning forward and speaking
+earnestly.  "He said another evening would do just as well for him."
+
+"I daresay he did," replied Delia, coldly.
+
+"And, you see, it was a cricket match at Holmbury," Anna continued, in
+an apologetic voice; "such a lovely place! and the Palmers offered to
+drive me, and another day wouldn't have done for that, and Aunt Sarah
+thought--"
+
+"Oh, naturally," said Delia, lightly, "the cricket match was far more
+important.  And, of course, the Professor wouldn't mind.  Why should
+he?"
+
+She nodded and passed on, just as Isabel came out of the shop.
+
+"Wasn't that Delia Hunt?" said Isabel, as she got into the pony-cart;
+"what is the matter?  Her face looked like the sky when thunder is
+coming."
+
+Delia felt as she looked, as though a storm were rising within her.  She
+thought of the Professor's little feast prepared so carefully, the
+flowers, the high-backed chair standing ready for the guest who never
+came.  She could not bear to imagine his disappointment.  How could Anna
+be so blind, so insensible?  All her hard feelings towards her returned,
+and they were the more intense because she could speak of them to no
+one--a storm without the relief of thunder.  She had a half-dread of her
+next meeting with Mr Goodwin, for with this resentment in her heart it
+would be difficult to talk about Anna with patience, and yet the meeting
+must come very soon.
+
+The next day was Wednesday, on which evening it was his custom to stay
+in the church after service and play the organ for some time.  Delia,
+who was generally his only listener, would wait for him, and they would
+either stroll home together, or, if it were warm weather, sit for a
+little while under a certain tree near the church.  They both looked
+forward to those meetings, but this week, when the time came, and Delia
+mounted the steep street which led up to the church, she almost wished
+that the Professor might not be there.
+
+Dornton church was perched upon a little hill, so that, though it was in
+the town, it stood high above it, and its tall, grey spire made a
+landmark for miles round.  The churchyard, carefully planted with
+flowers, and kept in good order, sloped sharply down to old gabled
+houses on one side, and on the other to open meadows, across which the
+tower of Waverley church could be just seen amongst the trees.  On this
+side a wooden bench, shadowed by a great ash, had been let into the low
+wall, and it was to this that Delia and the Professor were in the habit
+of repairing after the Wednesday evening services.
+
+Mr Goodwin's music had always power to soothe Delia, and to raise her
+thoughts above her daily troubles; but to-night, as she sat listening to
+him in the empty church, she felt even more than usual as if a mighty
+and comforting voice were speaking to her.  As long as the resounding
+notes of the organ continued, she forgot the little bustle of Dornton,
+and her anger against Anna, and even when the Professor had finished and
+joined her in the porch, the calming influence remained.
+
+"Can you stay a little this evening?" he asked, as they walked through
+the churchyard together; "if you can spare time I should like a talk.
+It's about Anna," he continued, when they were seated under the
+flickering shadow of the ash tree; "I didn't see her the other evening,
+after all--"
+
+"So I heard," said Delia.
+
+"No--I didn't see her," repeated Mr Goodwin, poking the ground
+reflectively with his stick.  "She went to some cricket match with her
+friends; she's to come to me another time.  It's very kind of Mrs
+Palmer to give her so much pleasure.  I suppose Anna enjoys it very
+much?  I hear of her going about with them a good deal."
+
+"I think she does," said Delia.
+
+"It's always such a comfort to me," he continued, his kind eyes beaming
+upon his companion from beneath the brim of his wide-awake, "to think
+that you are her friend.  I don't see much of her.  I told you I should
+not be able to, when she first came, but the next best thing is to know
+that you do."
+
+Delia was silent.  She did not meet his glance, but pressed her lips
+together and frowned a little.
+
+"Anna wants a friend," pursued the Professor, thoughtfully.  "Little as
+I see of her, I can tell that.  She has the sort of nature which depends
+greatly on influence--every one does, I suppose, but some of us can
+stand alone better than others."
+
+"Anna seems to get on very well," said Delia.  "People always like her."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," said the Professor, nodding his head gently, "so I
+should think--so I should think.  But when I say a `friend,' Delia, I
+don't mean that sort of thing; I mean some one who's willing to take a
+little trouble."
+
+"I don't see how you can be a friend to a person that doesn't want you,"
+said Delia, impatiently.  "If Anna wanted me--"
+
+"You're not displeased with her about anything, I hope?" said the
+Professor, anxiously; "she has not offended you?"
+
+Delia hesitated.  She could not bear to disappoint him, as he waited
+eagerly for her answer.
+
+"The fact is," she said at length, "I don't understand Anna.  She
+doesn't look at things in the same way as I do.  She gets on better with
+the Palmers than with me."
+
+"I'm sorry for that," said the Professor, with a discouraged air, "but
+Anna's very young, you know, in years and character too.  I daresay she
+needs patience."
+
+"I'm afraid I've not been patient," said Delia, humbly.
+
+Mr Goodwin was the only person in the world to whom she was always
+ready to own herself in the wrong.
+
+"Oh, well, patience comes with years," he said; "you're too young yet to
+know much about it.  It's often hard enough, even after a long life, to
+bear with the failings of others, and to understand our own.  People are
+so different.  Some are strong, and some are weak.  And the strong ones
+are always expecting the weak ones to stand upright as they do, and go
+straight on their way without earing for praise or blame.  And, of
+course they can't--it's not in them--they stumble and turn aside at
+little things that the others wouldn't notice.  And the weak ones, to
+whom, perhaps, it is natural to be sweet-tempered, and yielding, and
+forgiving, expect those virtues from the strong--and they don't find
+them--and then they wonder how it is that they find it hard to forgive
+and impossible to forget, and call them harsh and unbearable.  And so we
+go on misunderstanding instead of helping each other."
+
+Delia's face softened.  Perhaps she had been too hasty with Anna--too
+quick to blame.
+
+"Listen," said the Professor, "I was reading this while I waited for
+service to begin this evening."
+
+He had taken out of his pocket a stumpy, and very shabby little brown
+volume of Thomas a Kempis, which was very familiar to her.
+
+"But now, God hath thus ordered it, that we may learn to bear one
+another's burdens, for no man is without fault; no man but hath his
+burden; no man is self-sufficient; no man has wisdom enough for himself
+alone.  But we ought to bear with one another, comfort, help, instruct,
+and admonish one another."
+
+He shut the little book, and turned his eyes absently across the broad,
+green meadows.  Delia knew that absent look of the Professor's well.  It
+meant that he was travelling back into the past, seeing and hearing
+things of which she knew nothing.  Yet, though he did not seem to be
+speaking to her, every word he said sank into her mind.
+
+"It's very hard for strong people to bear with weakness.  It's such a
+disappointing, puzzling thing to them.  They are always expecting
+impossibilities.  Yet they are bound to help.  It is a sin to turn
+aside.  To leave weakness to trail along in the mire when they might be
+a prop for it to lean on and climb upwards by.  The strong have a duty
+to the weak, and lessons to learn from them.  But they are hard
+lessons--hard lessons."
+
+Long after he had finished, Mr Goodwin sat with his eyes fixed musingly
+on the distance, and Delia would not disturb his thoughts by a single
+word.  Even when they walked home together they had very little to say,
+and were both in a silent mood.  When they parted at the turning to Back
+Row, Delia spoke almost for the first time.
+
+"I'm not going to be cross to Anna any more, Professor.  You may feel
+quite happy about that."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE PALMERS' PICNIC.
+
+  Faithful are the wounds of a friend.
+
+One very hot afternoon a little later, there had been a glee-practising
+at the Hunts' house, a meeting which, of all others, was most
+distasteful to Delia.  The last guest had taken leave, and her mother
+being on the edge of a comfortable nap in the shaded drawing-room, she
+was just stealing away to her garret, when the bell rang.
+
+"Don't go away, my love," murmured Mrs Hunt, half-asleep, and as she
+spoke Mrs Winn's solid figure advanced into the room.
+
+Delia resigned herself to listen to the disjointed chat which went on
+between the two ladies for a little while, but soon the visitor, taking
+pity on Mrs Hunt's brave efforts to keep her eyes from closing, turned
+her attention in another direction.
+
+"I'm afraid," she said, moving her chair nearer to Delia, "that poor,
+old Mr Goodwin must be sadly disappointed about his grandchild, isn't
+he?"
+
+It always vexed Delia to hear the Professor called "poor and old."
+
+"Why?" she asked, shortly.
+
+"Well, because he evidently sees so little of her," said Mrs Winn.  "It
+has turned out exactly as I said it would.  I said from the very first,
+that sort of marriage never answers.  It always creates discord.  Of
+course, it's a difficult position for Mrs Forrest, but she ought to
+remember that the child owes duties and respect to Mr Goodwin.  `Honour
+thy father and mother,' and, of course, that applies to a grandfather
+too."
+
+"I believe Mr Goodwin is quite satisfied," answered Delia.
+
+"Oh, I daresay," said Mrs Winn.  "We all know he's a dear, meek, old
+man, who could never say boo to a goose.  But that doesn't make it
+right.  Now, I know for a fact that he expected Anna Forrest to tea with
+him one evening, and she never came.  I know all about it, because I
+happened to send him some trout that morning, and Mrs Cooper went in to
+cook them.  Mrs Cooper chars for me, you know.  `I was quite sorry,
+ma'am,' she said, when she came the next day, `to see the poor, old
+gentleman standing at the window with his watch in his hand, and the
+trout done to a turn, and his flowers and all.  It's hard on the old to
+be disappointed.'"
+
+Mrs Winn rolled out these sentences steadily, keeping her eyes firmly
+fixed on Delia all the while.  Now she waited for a reply.
+
+"I heard about it," she said.  "Anna was not able to go."
+
+"Then she should have sent word sooner, or her aunt should have done so.
+It was a great want of respect.  I'm surprised, Delia, you should take
+it so coolly, when you think so much of Mr Goodwin.  Now, if _I_ should
+see Anna Forrest, I shall make a point of putting her conduct in a right
+light to her.  I daresay no one has done so yet--and she is but a
+child."
+
+Delia shivered inwardly.  She knew that Mrs Winn was quite capable of
+doing as she said.  How the Professor would shrink from such
+interference!  Yet she did not feel equal to saying much against it, for
+Mrs Winn had always kept her and every one else in Dornton in order.
+Her right to rebuke and admonish was taken as a matter of course.
+
+"You don't know, you see," she began, "how it was that Anna was
+prevented.  Perhaps--"
+
+Mrs Winn had now risen, and stood ready to depart, with her umbrella
+planted firmly on the ground.
+
+"My dear," she interrupted, raising one hand, "I know _this_.  Wrong is
+wrong, and right is right.  That's enough for me, and always has been.
+Now, I won't disturb your dear mother to say good-bye, for I think she's
+just dropped off.  I'll go softly out."
+
+She moved with ponderous care out of the room, followed by Delia, but
+came to a stand again in the hall.
+
+"You heard about this picnic of the Palmers?" she said, inquiringly.
+"You're going, of course.  It seems to be a large affair."
+
+"I'm not quite sure," said Delia.
+
+"Julia Gibbins came in this morning," continued Mrs Winn, "quite
+excited about her invitation.  She wanted to know what I meant to wear.
+Julia's so absurdly frivolous, she thinks as much of her dress as a girl
+of sixteen.  `At our age, my dear Julia,' I said to her, `we need not
+trouble ourselves about that.  You may depend on it, no one will notice
+what we have on.  For myself, I shall put on my Paisley shawl and my
+thickest boots.  Picnics are always draughty and damp.'  I don't think
+she quite liked it.  Now, do you suppose the Palmers have asked Mr
+Goodwin?  Anna Forrest's so much there, that I should _almost_ think
+they would."
+
+"Why not, as well as other people in Dornton?" asked Delia.
+
+"He never goes to Waverley," said Mrs Winn.
+
+"That is by his own wish," said Delia, quickly.  "He has told me about
+that."
+
+"Oh, indeed, by his own wish," repeated Mrs Winn, her wide open grey
+eyes resting thoughtfully upon Delia; "that's strange, with his
+grandchild staying there.  However," with a parting nod, as she moved
+slowly out, "we shall soon see about the picnic."
+
+Delia smiled to herself as she watched her visitor's portly form out of
+sight.  How very little it would matter to the Professor whether the
+Palmers sent him an invitation or not!  He would not even notice the
+absence of one.  He had never cultivated the habit of feeling himself
+injured, and was happily placed far above the miseries of fancied
+slights and neglect.  Nevertheless she resented, as she always did, the
+tone of condescension with which Mrs Winn had mentioned him, and
+returned to the drawing-room with a ruffled brow and a vexed spirit.
+
+Mrs Hunt still slumbered peacefully, quite undisturbed by the little
+agitations of Dornton.  As her daughter entered, she gently opened her
+eyes.
+
+"Del, my love," she murmured, "I meant to ask you to go and inquire how
+Mrs Hurst's little boy is this morning.  Did I?"
+
+"No, mother," said Delia.
+
+"There's a beautiful jelly made for him," said Mrs Hunt, closing her
+eyes again, and folding her hands in front of her comfortable person.
+"I thought you might take it."
+
+"I passed the door this morning," said Delia.  "I could easily have
+taken it if you had remembered to ask me.  It's so late now."
+
+"It won't keep firm this hot weather," continued Mrs Hunt's sweet, low
+voice.  "He ought to have it to-day."
+
+Delia did not answer.  She was tired.  It was hot.  Mrs Winn's visit
+had come at the close of a most irksome afternoon.  She was longing for
+a little quiet time for her music.
+
+"Poor Mrs Hurst!" pursued her mother.  "So many children, and so few to
+help her.  Johnnie's been worse the last day or two."
+
+As usual on such occasions, Delia shortly found herself, basket in hand,
+making her way along the dusty High Street to Mrs Hurst's house.
+Dornton and the Dornton people seemed to her at that moment almost
+unbearable.  Should she ever get away from them? she wondered.  Would
+her life be spent within the hearing of Mrs Winn's sententious remarks,
+the tedious discussions of tiny details, the eternal chatter and gossip,
+which still seemed to buzz in her ears, from the meeting that afternoon?
+Then her thoughts turned to their usual refuge, the Professor, and she
+began to plan a visit to Anna at Waverley.  Since her last talk with
+him, she had made up her mind that she would do her very utmost to renew
+their old friendliness.  She would not take offence so easily, or be so
+quick to resent it, when Anna did not see things as she did.  She would
+be patient, and she would keep her promise to the Professor.  She would
+try to understand.  For his sake she would humble herself to make the
+first advance, and this, for Delia's somewhat stubborn spirit, was a
+greater effort than might be supposed.
+
+Anna, meanwhile, was quite as much interested as the Dornton people
+about the picnic which the Palmers intended to give.  All country
+pleasures were new to her, and her companions at Pynes were _very_ much
+amused to hear that she had never been to a picnic in her life, and had
+most confused ideas as to what it meant.
+
+"It will be a very large one," said Isabel Palmer to her one morning.
+"Mother thinks it will be such a good way of entertaining the Dornton
+people.  We thought of a garden-party, but if it's fine a picnic will be
+much more fun."
+
+The three girls were alone in the schoolroom, their lessons just over,
+and Anna was lingering for a chat before going back to Waverley.
+
+"Have you settled on the place yet?" she asked.
+
+"Alderbury," replied Isabel, "because it's near, and there's a jolly
+little wood to make the fire in."
+
+"How delightful it will be!" exclaimed Anna.  "How I wish it was going
+to be to-morrow, I'm so afraid something will prevent it."
+
+"Bother this list!" put in Clara's voice, from the table where she sat
+writing; "you might help me, Isabel."
+
+"What do you want?" asked her sister.
+
+"Well--Mr Goodwin, for instance--am I to put him down?"
+
+Anna gave a little start, and gazed earnestly out of the window at which
+she stood, as Isabel went up to the table and looked over Clara's
+shoulder.  Then they did not know!  Aunt Sarah had not told them.  How
+strange it seemed!
+
+"W-well, I don't know," said Isabel, reflectively.  "We never have asked
+him to anything; but a picnic's different.  He's a very nice old man,
+isn't he?"
+
+"He's an old dear," replied her sister, heartily, "but he's an organist.
+We shouldn't ask the organist of the church here."
+
+"Mr Goodwin's different, somehow," said Isabel; "he's so clever, and
+then he's a great friend of the Hunts, you know, and, of course, we
+shall ask them."
+
+"Well, what am I to do?" repeated Clara.
+
+"Put him down, and put a query against him," decided Isabel, "and when
+mother sees the list, she can alter it if she likes."
+
+Anna expected every moment during this discussion that her opinion would
+be asked.  She stood quite still, her back turned to her companions, a
+bright flush on her cheek, her heart beating fast.  When all chance of
+being appealed to was over, and the girls had gone on to other names,
+she drew a deep breath, as if she had escaped a danger.
+
+"I must go now," she said, turning towards them, "Aunt Sarah wants me
+early to-day;" and in a few moments she was out of the house and on the
+way home.
+
+It was not until she was half-way down the long hill which led from
+Pynes to Waverley, that she began to realise what difficulties she had
+prepared for herself by her silence.  If Mr Goodwin were asked, and if
+he came to the picnic, the relationship between them must be known.
+That would not matter so much, but it would matter that she had seemed
+to be ashamed of it.  Why had she not told them long ago?  Why had she
+not spoken just now, at the first mention of his name?  What a foolish,
+foolish girl she had been!  What should she do now?  Turning it over in
+her mind, she came to the conclusion that she must make some excuse to
+her Aunt, and stay away from the picnic.  She could not face what might
+happen there.  The Palmers' surprise, Delia's scorn.  Why did you not
+tell us? she heard them saying, and what could she answer?  As she
+thought of how much she had looked forward to this pleasure, a few tears
+rolled down Anna's cheek, but they were not tears of repentance.  She
+was only sorry for her own disappointment, and because things did not go
+smoothly.  It was very hard, she said to herself, and the hardest part
+was that she was forced continually into crooked ways.  She did not want
+to be deceitful; she would much rather be brave and open like Delia,
+only things were too strong for her.  As she thought this, Delia's face
+seemed suddenly to appear before her: it did not look angry or scornful,
+but had a gentle, almost pleading expression on it: she was speaking,
+and what she said sounded quite clearly in Anna's ears: "Go back and
+tell them now.  Go back and tell them now," over and over again.
+
+Anna stopped uncertainly, and turned her head to where, over the tops of
+the trees, she could still catch a glimpse of the chimneys of Pynes: she
+even took two or three steps up the hill again, the voice still sounding
+entreatingly and loud.  But now it was joined by another, louder and
+bolder, which tried to drown it.  This one told her that, after all,
+there was no need.  Things would go well.  The Palmers might never know.
+Soon they would go to Scotland, and after that--well, that was a long
+way off.  Anna turned again, this time with decision, and finished the
+rest of her journey to Waverley almost at a run, without stopping to
+think any more.
+
+As the days went on without any further mention of Mr Goodwin, she
+began to hope that, after all, she might be able to go to the picnic.
+How should she find out?  She had not courage to ask the Palmers, and
+though it would have been a simple matter to ask her grandfather
+himself, she shrank from facing him and his gentle kindliness just now.
+If only some visitor from Dornton would come over!  This wish was at
+last realised in a very unexpected way, and one which was not altogether
+pleasant.  It was the day on which her visit to Mr Goodwin was usually
+made, and she had begged her aunt to allow her to remain at home.  The
+heat had given her a headache, and she would rather go to Dornton some
+other day.  Mrs Forrest received the excuse indulgently.
+
+"I will call in and leave a message with Mr Goodwin," she said, "and
+you had better lie down quietly in your own room.  By the time I get
+back you will be better, I hope."
+
+But Aunt Sarah had hardly been gone ten minutes before there was a knock
+at Anna's door:
+
+"Mrs Winn would like to speak to you, miss.  I told her you were not
+well, but she says she will only keep you a few minutes."
+
+Anna did not know much of Mrs Winn, and thought, as she went
+down-stairs, that she had most likely some message for Mrs Forrest to
+leave with her.  Would she say anything about the picnic, or the people
+who were going to it?
+
+Mrs Winn had taken up a determined position on a stiff, straight-backed
+chair in the middle of the room.  There was severity in her glance as
+she replied to Anna's greeting, and remarked that she was sorry to miss
+Mrs Forrest.
+
+"Aunt Sarah's only just started to drive into Dornton," said Anna; "I
+wonder you did not meet her."
+
+"I came by the fields," replied Mrs Winn shortly.  "You were not well
+enough to go out, I hear?"
+
+"I had a headache," said Anna, with her pretty blush; "aunt thought I
+had better stay at home."
+
+"You don't look much the worse for it," said Mrs Winn, without removing
+her unblinking gaze.  "Girls in my young days didn't have headaches, or
+if they did, they put up with them, and did their duty in spite of them.
+Things are turned topsy-turvy now, and it's the old who give way to the
+young."
+
+Surprised at this tone of reproof, for which she was quite unprepared,
+Anna's usually ready speech deserted her.  She said nothing, and hoped
+that Mrs Winn would soon go away.  But that was evidently not her
+intention just yet: she had come prepared to say what was on her mind,
+and she would sit there until it was said.
+
+"But, perhaps," she continued, "it's just as well you didn't go out, for
+I've been wanting an opportunity to speak to you for some days."
+
+"To me?" said Anna, faintly.
+
+"I never shrink from my duty," went on Mrs Winn, "whether it's
+unpleasant or not, and I don't like to see other people doing so.  Now,
+you're only a child, and when you neglect to do what's right, you ought
+to be told of it."
+
+Anna gazed in open-eyed alarm at her visitor.  What could be coming?
+
+"I don't suppose you know, and, therefore, I think it my duty to tell
+you, that your grandfather, old Mr Goodwin, was extremely disappointed
+the other day when you failed to keep your promise.  I hear that he
+waited for you until quite late."
+
+"Aunt Sarah wished me to go out with the Palmers," said Anna.
+"Grandfather said he didn't mind at all--"
+
+"I knew your mother well," proceeded Mrs Winn, rolling on her way
+without noticing this remark, "and a sweet, young creature she was,
+though she made one mistake that I always regretted.  And I know Mr
+Goodwin, of course, and respect him, though he's not made of the stuff
+that gets on in the world.  Still, whatever his position is, you owe him
+duty and reverence; and let me tell you, young lady, there may come a
+time when you'll be sorry you've not given it.  It's all very well, and
+very natural, I daresay, to enjoy frolicking about with your gay young
+friends now.  But youth passes, and pleasure passes, and then we all
+have time to remember the duties we didn't stoop to pick up when they
+lay at our door."
+
+Anna sat in sulky silence during this long speech, with her eyes cast
+down, and a pout on her lips.  What right had Mrs Winn to scold her?
+
+Sullen looks, however, had no sort of effect on that lady, and when she
+had taken breath, she proceeded to finish her lecture:
+
+"I keep my eyes open, and my ears too, and I know very well, that though
+your grandfather says nothing, and is the sort of man to bear any
+neglect without complaint, that he feels hurt at your going so seldom to
+see him.  And, knowing this, it was my duty to come and tell you, as
+there was no one else to do it.  Your aunt and uncle are not intimate
+with him, and Delia Hunt's too young to speak with any weight.--There's
+another thing, too, I wanted to mention.  Up to yesterday Mr Goodwin
+had received no invitation to the Palmers' picnic."
+
+Anna's heart gave a sudden leap of joy.  Then she could go to the
+picnic!
+
+"I fancy, if she knew this, that Mrs Forrest would neither go herself
+nor allow you to do so," continued Mrs Winn.  "Considering his
+connection with this family, it's a slight to her and her husband as
+well as to him.  It's extremely strange of the Palmers, when they take
+so much notice of you.  I almost feel inclined to go on to Pynes this
+afternoon and point it out to them!"
+
+She waited, looking at Anna for a reply, but none came, for she was
+partly stunned by the force and suddenness of Mrs Winn's attack, and
+also filled with alarm at the idea of her going to Pynes.  That would
+spoil everything.  So she sat in silence, nervously twisting her fingers
+in her lap, her downcast face strangely unlike that of the usually
+bright, self-possessed Anna.
+
+"After all," concluded Mrs Winn, "I'm rather tired, and it's a good
+mile farther, so I'll go back over the fields as I came, though the
+stiles do try me a good deal.  You know how matters stand now, and you
+can't say you've not been openly dealt with.  So we'll shake hands, and
+bear no malice."
+
+Anna went with her visitor as far as the garden door, and watched her
+until she was hidden from sight by the great walnut tree on the lawn.
+What a tiresome, interfering old lady she was, and how angry Aunt Sarah
+would be!  Her head really ached now.  It felt as though some one had
+been battering it on each side with large, strong hands, and she was
+quite confused and giddy; but through it all one triumphant thought came
+uppermost.  She could go to the picnic!  Presently she strolled out into
+the garden, fanning her hot face with her hat, as she turned things over
+in her mind.  On the whole, she would not mention Mrs Winn's visit to
+her aunt, and, of course, she must not know that Mr Goodwin had not
+been asked to the picnic.  It was very near now, and as Mrs Forrest was
+not fond of listening to Dornton gossip, she was not likely to hear of
+it in any other way.  To go to the picnic had now taken such full
+possession of Anna's mind that nothing else seemed of much importance.
+She was ready to bend and twist everything that came in her way to make
+the road to it straight.  A small reproving voice, which still sounded
+sometimes, was getting less and less troublesome.  "Afterwards," Anna
+said to it, "after the picnic, I will behave differently.  I will never
+conceal anything, and I will go often to see grandfather--but I _must_
+go to the picnic."
+
+The stable clock sounding five disturbed her reflections.  Aunt Sarah
+would be home soon without fail, for at a quarter past there would be a
+mothers' meeting at the schoolroom, at which she always presided.  Anna
+went too, sometimes, and helped to measure out calico and flannel, but
+she hoped she should be excused this afternoon.  The schoolroom was hot,
+and she did not find the books Aunt Sarah read aloud to the mothers very
+interesting.
+
+There was the pony-cart in the distance!  But who was the second figure
+sitting beside Mrs Forrest?  Could it be Delia?  Anna ran through the
+house and into the porch, from which she could see the long approach to
+the Rectory gate.  There had been a time when Delia's coming had meant
+unmixed rejoicing, but that was over.  She seemed to come now not so
+much as a friend as a severe young judge, whose looks condemned, even
+when she did not speak.
+
+Mrs Winn had only put into words what Delia's face had said for some
+time past, and, with the sound of them still in her ears, Anna felt more
+alarmed than pleased, as she saw that it really was her old friend.  Had
+she, too, come to point out her duty?
+
+With the mothers' meeting on her mind, Mrs Forrest descended quickly
+from the pony-cart, and passed Anna in the porch without looking at her.
+
+"Is your headache better?" she said, as she went straight into the
+drawing-room, where tea was ready.  "I overtook Delia on her way to see
+you, and brought her on with me.  You must take care of yourselves, for
+I must start almost immediately.  Please pour me out a cup of tea at
+once."
+
+When Mrs Forrest had drunk her tea, and set forth at a leisurely pace
+for the schoolroom, provided with work-basket and book, the two girls
+were alone together.  There was a pause of embarrassment, which Delia
+was the first to break.
+
+"I was coming over," she said, "to ask if you would care to go and get
+water-lilies down at the river this evening.  You said you would like
+some rushes too."
+
+Her voice sounded kind, almost as it used to long ago, although there
+was a sort of shyness in her manner.  Anna was greatly relieved.  Surely
+Delia would not have begun like this if she intended to reprove her.
+
+"Mrs Forrest said you might go, if your head was better," continued
+Delia.
+
+Anna replied eagerly that her headache was nearly gone, a walk would do
+it good, she should like it immensely; and a few minutes later the girls
+started on their expedition.  It was one which had been planned in the
+first days of their acquaintance, when Anna had thought no pleasure
+could compare to a ramble in the country with Delia.  Fresh from the
+rattle and noise of London, its stony pavements, and the stiff
+brilliancy of the flowers in the parks, it had been a sort of rapture to
+her to wander freely over the fields and through the woods.  Aunt
+Sarah's garden was beautiful, but this was better still.  All the
+flowers found here might be gathered, and Delia knew exactly where they
+all grew in their different seasons, and the best way of getting to
+them.  Anna had begun, under her guidance, to make a collection of
+wild-flowers, but though started with great energy, it had not gone far.
+It had ceased, together with the walks, shortly after her acquaintance
+with the Palmers had filled her mind with other things.  Yet those
+rambles with Delia had never been forgotten.  Anna thought of them
+often, and knew in her heart that she had never been so really happy
+since.  This evening, as she walked along swinging her basket, she felt
+as though the old days had come back, and the old Delia too.  It could
+not be so, really.  If she knew--but she did not know.  Meanwhile the
+sky was blue, Delia was kind, the meadows were gay and pleasant, she
+would forget everything disagreeable, and enjoy herself.
+
+Their way lay for a short distance along the high-road, then over a
+stile, and down through the rich flat water-meadows which spread out on
+each side of the river.  The Dorn was neither a rapid nor a majestic
+stream, but took its leisurely course between its sloping banks, with a
+contented ripple, disturbing no one.  This course was a very winding
+one, making all kinds of little creeks, and shallows, and islands on its
+way, and these were full of delightful plants for any one who cared to
+gather them.  Tall families of bulrushes and reeds swaying to the wind
+whistling through them; water-lilies, holding up their flat, green hands
+to make a table for their white blossoms; forests of willow-herb on the
+banks, wild peppermint and comfrey, and the blue eyes of forget-me-nots
+peeping out here and there with modest confidence.
+
+"There's an old punt fastened just about here," said Delia, as they
+reached the river, "so we can get right out amongst the lilies, and then
+we can reach the rushes too."
+
+Delia was always the leader on such occasions, and Anna was used to
+following her with perfect confidence, but when they came to the old
+punt, a little higher up, she eyed it with some misgivings.  It looked
+very insecure, and shaky, and rotten.
+
+"Oh, Delia," she cried, as her companion jumped lightly on to it and
+waited for her to follow, "it's leaking--I can see the water through it.
+Do you think it will bear us both?"
+
+Delia laughed as Anna crept cautiously down the bank.  It reminded her
+of the time when she had had to encourage and help her to climb gates
+and scramble through hedges.
+
+"Come along," she said, holding out her hand, "it's as safe as dry land.
+Why, I've seen four great boys on it at once."
+
+"How beautiful!" cried Anna, as, after a little more encouragement, she
+found herself safely on the punt by Delia's side, surrounded by
+water-lilies and bulrushes.  They set to work to fill their basket with
+these, and when it was done there were always finer ones still almost
+out of reach.  These must be had at any cost.  Delia would lie flat on
+the punt, and while Anna held the skirt of her dress, would manage to
+get hold of them with the handle of a stick.  There was both excitement
+and triumph in these captures, and while they were going on the girls
+forgot that any coolness had come between them, or that the world held
+much beyond water-lilies and bulrushes.  When, however, they climbed out
+of the punt with their dripping prizes, and sat down on the bank to rest
+a little, recollections returned.
+
+"What a pity," thought Anna, with a sigh, "that things are not always
+pleasant.  Delia is nicer than any one when she is kind."
+
+Delia, on her side, as she packed the lilies into the basket, reminded
+herself that there was something she had to say to Anna, and wondered
+how she should begin.
+
+As usual, she plunged straight into the matter of which her mind was
+full, and said suddenly:
+
+"Do you ever meet your grandfather at Pynes?"
+
+Here was the tiresome subject again!  All pleasure was over now.
+
+"No, never," replied Anna.  "He gives Clara lessons on Saturdays, and
+Aunt Sarah always wants me at home then."
+
+"You are going to this picnic, I suppose?" said Delia.  "Does Mrs
+Forrest know that the Professor has not been asked?"
+
+"I don't know," murmured Anna.
+
+She glanced quickly at her companion, and saw the severe look coming
+back which she always dreaded.
+
+"Of course," continued Delia.  "It does not in the least matter, as far
+as he is concerned, for he would not, in any case, go; but I should have
+thought his relations would have felt it a slight; and I can't
+understand Mrs Palmer."
+
+Anna was silent.  She wished now that Delia had not come, though she had
+enjoyed the walk so much.
+
+"But I didn't mean to talk about that," resumed Delia, with an effort.
+"What I wanted to say has nothing to do with the picnic.  It's about
+you, Anna, and myself."
+
+"About me?" repeated Anna.
+
+After all, Delia _was_ going to be angry, yet her voice sounded quite
+soft and kind.
+
+"Yes.  At first I didn't mean to say anything to you, because I thought
+you ought to be able to see it for yourself.  And when you didn't, I was
+angry, and that kept me silent.  But I know now, it was wrong.  People
+can't see things just alike, and I ought to have been kinder, and tried
+to help you more."
+
+At this new tone of humility Anna's heart softened at once to her
+friend.  When she spoke like that, she felt for the moment that she
+would do anything she asked--even give up the picnic.
+
+"Oh, Delia," she exclaimed, impulsively, "you've always been very kind.
+Kinder than I deserve."
+
+"That's nothing to do with it," answered Delia.  "People can do without
+friends when they deserve them.  The thing is, that I promised the
+Professor to be your friend, and I haven't carried it out."
+
+"It's been my fault," said Anna, in a penitent voice, "but really and
+truly, Delia, you may not believe me, but I _do_ like you better than
+Isabel Palmer--or any one.  I do indeed."
+
+She spoke the truth.  At that moment she felt that she would rather have
+Delia for a friend than any one in the world.  Yet she was conscious
+that, if Delia knew all, she would find it hard to forgive her.  What a
+pity it all was!
+
+"So, what I want to tell you," continued Delia, "and what I ought to
+have told you before, is this.  I've let you think that your grandfather
+doesn't mind your going so seldom to see him--but I know that he does."
+
+She paused and looked earnestly at Anna.
+
+"Grandfather never says anything about it," Anna murmured.
+
+"That's just it," said Delia.  "He's so unselfish and good, he wouldn't
+let you or any one know it for the world.  He thinks so little of
+himself, it would be impossible to offend him.  It's not what he _says_.
+Oh, Anna, if you really knew, and loved him, you _couldn't_ let
+anything else come before him!  Not all the Palmers, and Waverleys, and
+Aunt Sarahs in the world.  You _couldn't_ give him a minute's pain or
+disappointment."
+
+She was so moved by her subject, that the tears stood in her dark eyes
+as she turned them upon Anna.
+
+"I'll try, Delia; I really will," said the latter, "but it _is_ hard.
+Harder than you think.  It makes Aunt Sarah different for days
+afterwards."
+
+Delia snapped off the head of a water-lily in her impatient fingers.
+
+"Aunt Sarah!" she repeated.  Then more gently: "You see, Anna, you must
+choose whether you'll pain the Professor or displease Mrs Forrest.  You
+can't possibly please both of them.  You must choose which you think
+right, and stick to it.  You can't serve God and mammon."
+
+How dreadfully earnest Delia was!  It almost frightened Anna to hear her
+talk like that.
+
+"I will try," she repeated.  "I will do my best, Delia, if only you
+won't be angry any longer."
+
+She put her hand softly into her companion's, and Delia's fingers closed
+over it in a warm clasp.  For the time, the old feelings of confidence
+and affection had returned, and when, a little later, Anna walked back
+to the Vicarage alone, she was full of good resolves.  She would try to
+deserve Delia's friendship.  She would go often to Dornton, and be very
+loving to her grandfather.  She would turn over a new leaf.
+
+"My dear Anna," cried Mrs Forrest, meeting her in the porch with her
+basket of wet, shining river-plants, "do you know the time?  Miss Stiles
+has been waiting to try on your dress for the picnic.  Dear me! what
+dripping things!  Let Mary take them."
+
+The picnic!  Anna had really for the moment forgotten the picnic.  All
+the good resolves trooped into the background again while she tried on
+the new dress.  But only till _after_ the picnic!  When that was over
+she would make a fresh start, and never, never, conceal anything again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+THE BEST THINGS.
+
+  A rose which falleth from the hand, which fadeth in the breast,
+  Until in grieving for the worst, we learn what is the best.
+
+  Mrs Browning.
+
+Everything went on quite smoothly until the day fixed for the picnic
+came.  Aunt Sarah gave no hint of any objection; the weather was
+gloriously hot and fine; Anna's new white dress was very pretty--there
+was nothing wanting to her long-desired enjoyment.
+
+She stood amongst the nodding roses in the porch, waiting for the
+Palmers to call for her in their carriage, on the way to Alderbury.
+Aunt Sarah was, perhaps, to drive over and join the party later.  Anna
+had dismissed all troublesome thoughts.  She felt sure she was going to
+be very happy, and that nothing unlucky would happen to spoil her
+pleasure.  She was in gay spirits, as she fastened a bunch of the little
+cluster-roses in her dress.  Isabel had once told her that she looked
+very pretty in white, and she was glad to feel that she suited the
+beauty of the bright summer day.
+
+"Anna!" said Mrs Forrest's voice from the hall within.
+
+Anna turned.  The hall looked dark and shadowy after the sunshine, but
+it was easy to see that there was vexation on her aunt's face as she
+studied the letter in her hand.
+
+"I have just had a note from Dr Hunt," she said.  "Mr Goodwin, your
+grandfather, is not very well."
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Anna.
+
+She left the porch and went up to her aunt's side.
+
+"Why, I can't quite make out.  Dr Hunt talks of fever, but says there
+is nothing infectious.  Brought on by over-exertion in the heat, he
+thinks.  He says you may safely go to see him--"
+
+There was a pause.  Mrs Forrest and Anna looked at each other: each
+waited for the other to speak.  Must I give up the picnic after all?
+thought Anna.
+
+"I don't gather that it's anything serious," said Mrs Forrest at
+length.  "I think the best plan will be for me to go over to Dornton,
+after you've started, and see Dr Hunt.  Then, if there's really no
+danger of infection, you can go there early to-morrow," She looked
+inquiringly at Anna, as though half-expecting her to make some other
+suggestion.  The sound of wheels on the gravel, and the tramp of horses,
+told that the Palmers were approaching: the wagonette, full of gay young
+people, drove up to the porch.
+
+"Are you ready, Anna?" called out Isabel's voice.
+
+"Will that satisfy you?" said Mrs Forrest; "you must decide now."
+
+"We're late, Anna," said Isabel again, "why don't you come?"
+
+Anna hesitated.  She looked out at the bright sunshine, where her
+companions called her to gaiety and pleasure, and then at the letter in
+her aunt's hand.
+
+"Here's your cloak, Miss Anna," said the maid waiting at the door.
+
+In another moment, it seemed almost without any will of her own, she was
+squeezed into the carriage amongst her laughing companions, had waved a
+farewell to Mrs Forrest standing smiling in the porch, and was whirled
+away to the picnic.
+
+The hours of the sunny day, filled with delight for Anna amongst the
+pleasant woods of Alderbury, did not pass so quickly at Number 4 Back
+Row.  The Professor was ill.  He had had a slight feverish attack to
+begin with, which passed off, and seemed of no importance, but it had
+left him in a state of nervous weakness and prostration, at which Dr
+Hunt looked grave.  Mr Goodwin must have been over-exerting himself for
+some time past, he declared, and this breakdown was the result.  It
+would probably be some time before he could do any work.  Perfect rest,
+and freedom from all care and agitation, were the only remedies.
+
+"Don't let him know, Delia," he said to his daughter as he left the
+house, "that he's likely to be laid up long.  Keep him as quiet and
+cheerful as possible.  I'll send a line to Mrs Forrest, and let her
+know that his grandchild may be with him as much as she likes."
+
+Delia prepared to spend the rest of the day with her old friend, and
+having persuaded him to lie down on the hard little couch, and made him
+as comfortable as she could with pillows, she sat down in the window
+with her sewing.  From here she could watch the little gate, and prevent
+any one from entering too suddenly.  Of course Anna would come soon.
+The Professor was very quiet, but she thought he turned his eyes towards
+the door now and then, as though looking for some one.  Was it Anna?  At
+last she was thankful to see him fall into a doze which lasted some
+while, and she was just thinking for the hundredth time that Anna _must_
+come now, when she was startled by his voice:
+
+"Prissy," it said, quite clearly.
+
+Delia went up to the sofa.  Mr Goodwin gazed at her for a moment
+without recognition.
+
+"You've had a nice sleep, Professor," she said, smiling, "and now you
+are going to have some tea with me."
+
+But in spite of his sleep, the Professor's face looked anxious, and he
+hardly tasted the tea which Delia prepared.  As she took his cup, he
+said wistfully:
+
+"Did Dr Hunt write to Mrs Forrest?"
+
+Delia nodded.
+
+"Did--did Anna happen to come while I was asleep?" was his next
+question.
+
+"She's not been yet," said Delia, "but they may not have had the letter
+till late.  She will come soon."
+
+"I should like to see her," said the Professor.
+
+Why did not Anna come?  As the weary hours went by, and the sun got
+lower and lower, he became very restless, looked first at his watch and
+then at the door, and no longer tried to conceal how much he wanted to
+see his grandchild.  Delia tried in vain to divert his mind by reading
+his favourite books, but it was evident that he was not listening to
+her.  He was listening for the click of the gate, and the footsteps
+outside.  Every subject in which she tried to interest him came back to
+the same thing, Anna, and Anna's doings.  Delia could not help one throb
+of jealous pain, as she recognised how powerless she was to take her
+place, a place she seemed to value so little.  But it was only for one
+moment; the next she put all thought of herself aside.  Anna belonged to
+the dearest memories of the Professor's life.  She had a place in his
+heart which would always be kept for her, whatever she had done or left
+undone.  To bring peace and comfort into his face again, Delia would
+have been willing at that moment to give up her own place in his
+affections entirely.  If only Anna would come!
+
+"I suppose it's too late to expect her now, my dear, isn't it?" said the
+patient voice again.
+
+Delia could not bear it any longer.
+
+"I think," she said, as cheerfully as she could, "if you don't mind
+being alone a little while, I'll just run over to Waverley.  Mrs
+Cooper's here, if you want anything, you know."
+
+"Will you really?" said the Professor, with hope in his voice.
+
+"There's perhaps been some mistake about that letter," said Delia.
+"You'd like to see Anna to-night, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Well, I _should_," said Mr Goodwin.  "It's very absurd, I know, but I
+had such a strange dream just now about her and Prissy, and I can't get
+it out of my head.  I suppose being not quite up to the mark makes one
+unreasonable, but I really don't think I could sleep without seeing her.
+It's very good of you to go, my dear."
+
+"I'll be back in no time, and bring her with me," said Delia.
+
+She spoke with confidence, but half-way across the fields she stopped
+her rapid pace, checked by a sudden thought--the picnic!
+
+In her anxiety she had forgotten it.  Anna might have started before Dr
+Hunt's note got to Waverley.  Even then, though, she said to herself,
+she must be home by now.  So she ran on again, and half an hour later
+she was on her way back over the darkening fields--without Anna.  She
+had gone to the picnic, and she knew the Professor was ill!  Once Delia
+would have felt angry; now there was only room in her heart for one
+thought: "He will be disappointed, and he will not sleep to-night."
+
+The church clock struck nine as she entered the High Street in Dornton,
+and the same sound fell faintly on Anna's ears on her way back from
+Alderbury.  The picnic had been over long ago, but, shortly after the
+party started to return, one of the horses lost a shoe; the carriage in
+which Anna was had to proceed at a slow walk for the rest of the
+distance, and it would be very late before she could reach Waverley.
+
+No accident, however, could damp her spirits, or those of her
+companions.  It was all turned into amusement and fun.  The whole day
+had been more delightful than any Anna had known.  It was over now, that
+delightful day, and she gave a little sigh of regret to think that she
+was at the end of it instead of at the beginning.  The one shadow which
+had fallen across the brightness of it, had been cast by the substantial
+figure of Mrs Winn, whom she had seen in the distance now and then.
+Once she had noticed her in earnest conversation with Mrs Palmer, and
+thought that they had both looked in her direction, but it had been easy
+to avoid contact with her amongst so many people.  It had not spoiled
+her enjoyment then; but now, her excitement a little cooled down,
+unpleasant thoughts began to make themselves heard.
+
+Here was the Rectory at last!  Anna burst into the drawing-room, her
+fair hair falling in confusion over her shoulders, a large bundle of
+foxgloves in her arms, her cheeks bright with the cool night breeze.
+
+"Oh, aunt!" she exclaimed, "we've had such a lovely, lovely day.  Why
+didn't you come?"
+
+"You're very late, my dear Anna," said Mrs Forrest, gravely.  "I
+expected you more than an hour ago."
+
+Anna explained the reason of her delay.
+
+"Alderbury is the most perfect place," she repeated.  "Why didn't you
+come?"
+
+"It's very unlucky that you should be late," said Mrs Forrest.  "Delia
+has been over asking for you."
+
+Anna's face fell.  "Oh!" she exclaimed.  "My grandfather!  Is he worse?"
+
+"I don't think so.  And from what I learned from Dr Hunt, he is not at
+all seriously ill.  But he was restless, Delia said, and wanted to see
+you to-night."
+
+"To see me," said Anna.  She let her flowers fall in a heap on the
+ground.  "Oh, Aunt Sarah, I wish I had not gone to the picnic!"
+
+"Now, my dear Anna, that is foolish.  You shall go to Dornton early
+to-morrow, and no doubt you will find Mr Goodwin better.  Remember that
+there is no cause for anxiety, and though the accident of your being
+late was very unfortunate, it could not be avoided."
+
+Aunt Sarah's composed words were reassuring.  Probably her grandfather
+was not very ill, Anna thought; but oh, why had she gone to the picnic,
+and what would Delia say?
+
+These last words were in her mind again next morning, as she arrived at
+Number 4 Back Row, and stood waiting to be let in.  The little house
+looked very sad and silent, as though it knew its master was ill.
+Presently the door opened a very little way, and the long, mournful face
+of Mrs Cooper appeared.  When she saw who it was she put her finger on
+her lip, and then said in a loud, hoarse whisper, "I'll call Miss
+Delia."
+
+Anna was left outside.  She felt frightened.  Why did Mrs Cooper look
+so grave?  Perhaps grandfather was very ill after all!
+
+It seemed ages before the door opened again, and when it did, it was
+Delia who stood there.  She did not look at all angry, but her face was
+very sad.
+
+"He has had a very bad night," she whispered, "but now he is sleeping.
+He must not be disturbed.  You had better come later."
+
+That was all.  The door was gently shut again, and Anna stood outside.
+As she turned away, her eyes filled with tears.  Yesterday her
+grandfather had wanted her, and she had not gone--to-day the door was
+shut.  He must be very ill, she felt sure, whatever Aunt Sarah might
+say.  His kind, gentle face came before her, as she made her way along--
+always kind, never with any reproach in it.  How could she have gone to
+the picnic, and left him to ask for her in vain?
+
+As she reached the place where the pony-cart waited for her, Isabel
+Palmer came out of a shop.  She looked at her with a sort of cold
+surprise.
+
+"Oh, Anna," she said, "how is Mr Goodwin?  We only heard yesterday he
+was ill.  I was going to his house to ask after him."
+
+"Dr Hunt says there is no cause for anxiety," said Anna, repeating the
+sentence she had so often heard from Aunt Sarah.
+
+"It was Mrs Winn who told mother he was ill," continued Isabel,
+observing Anna's downcast face curiously, "and--she said another thing
+which surprised us all very much.  Why didn't you tell us long ago that
+Mr Goodwin is your grandfather?"
+
+Anna was silent.
+
+"We can't understand it at all," continued Isabel.  "Mother says it
+might have caused great unpleasantness.  She's quite vexed."
+
+She waited a moment with her eyes fixed on Anna, and then said, with a
+little toss of her head:
+
+"Well--good-bye.  I suppose we shan't meet again before we go to
+Scotland.  Mother has written to tell Mrs Forrest that we're not going
+on with lessons."
+
+They parted with a careless shake of the hands, and Anna was driven away
+in the pony-cart.  Her friendship with Isabel, her pleasant visits to
+Pynes, were over now.  She was humbled and disgraced before every one,
+and Delia would know it too.  It would have been a wounding thought
+once, but now there was no room in her heart for any feeling but dread
+of what might happen to Mr Goodwin.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Sarah," she cried, when she reached Waverley, and found her
+aunt in the garden, "I'm sure my grandfather is worse--I'm sure he's
+very ill.  I did not see him."
+
+Mrs Forrest was tying up a rebellious creeper, which wished to climb in
+its own way instead of hers.  She finished binding down one of the
+unruly tendrils before she turned to look at her niece.  Anna was
+flushed.  Her eyelids were red and swollen.
+
+"Why didn't you see him?" she asked.  "Does Dr Hunt think him worse?"
+
+"I don't know," said Anna.  "I only saw Delia for a minute.  He was
+asleep.  I am to go again.  Oh, Aunt Sarah," with a burst of sobs, "I do
+wish I had not gone to the picnic.  I wish I had behaved better to my
+grandfather.  I wish--"
+
+Mrs Forrest laid her hand kindly on Anna's shoulder.
+
+"My dear," she said, "you distress yourself without reason.  We can rely
+on Dr Hunt's opinion that your grandfather only needs rest.  Sleep is
+the very best thing for him.  When you go this evening, you will see how
+foolish you have been.  Meanwhile, try to exercise some self-control;
+occupy yourself, and the time will soon pass."
+
+She turned to her gardening again, and Anna wandered off alone.  Aunt
+Sarah's calm words had no comfort in them.  Delia's severest rebuke,
+even Mrs Winn's plain speech, would have been better.  She went
+restlessly up to her bedroom, seeking she hardly knew what.  Her eye
+fell on the little brown case, long unopened, which held her mother's
+portrait.  Words, long unthought of, came back to her as she looked at
+it.
+
+"If you are half as good and beautiful," her father had said; and on the
+same day what had been Miss Milverton's last warning?  "Try to value the
+best things."
+
+"Oh," cried Anna to herself as she looked at the pure, truthful eyes of
+the picture, "if I only could begin again!  But now it's all got so
+wrong, it can never, never be put right!"
+
+After a while, she went into the garden again, and avoiding Mrs
+Forrest, crossed the little foot-bridge leading into the field, and sat
+down on the gate.  The chimneys of Leas Farm in the distance made her
+think of Daisy, and the old days when they had first met, and she had
+been so full of good resolves.  Daisy, and the good resolves, and Delia
+too, seemed all to have vanished together.  She had no friends now.
+Every one had deserted her, and she had deserved it!
+
+She was sitting during those reflections with her face buried in her
+hands, and presently was startled by the sound of a little voice behind
+her.
+
+"What's the matter?" it said.
+
+It was Daisy Oswald, who had come through the garden, and now stood on
+the bridge close to her, a basket of eggs in her hand, and her childish,
+freckled face full of wonder and sympathy.
+
+Generally, Anna would have been ashamed to be seen in distress, and
+would have tried to hide it, but now she was too miserable to mind
+anything.  She hid her face in her hands again, without answering
+Daisy's question.
+
+"Has some one been cross?" inquired Daisy at last.
+
+Anna shook her head.  Her heart ached for sympathy even from Daisy,
+though she could not speak to her, and she hoped she would not go away
+just yet.
+
+"Have you hurt yourself?" proceeded Daisy.
+
+Again the same sign.
+
+"Have you done something naughty?  I did something very naughty once."
+
+Seeing that Anna did not shake her head this time, she added, in her
+condescending little tone:
+
+"If you like, I'll come and sit beside you, and tell you all about it."
+
+She put her basket of eggs very carefully on the ground, and placed
+herself comfortably by Anna's side.
+
+"It was a very naughty thing _I_ did," she began, in a voice of some
+enjoyment, "worse than yours, I expect.  It was a year ago, and one of
+our geese was sitting, and mother said she wasn't to be meddled with
+nohow.  And the white Cochin-china hen was sitting too, and"--Daisy
+paused to give full weight to the importance of the crime, and opened
+her eyes very wide, "and--I changed 'em!  I carried the goose and put
+her on the hen's nest, and she forsook it, and the hen forsook hers, and
+the eggs were all addled!  Mother _was_ angry!  She said it wasn't the
+eggs she minded so much as the disobedience.  Was yours worse than
+that?"
+
+"Much, much worse," murmured Anna.
+
+Daisy made a click with her tongue to express how shocked she felt at
+this idea.
+
+"Have you said you're sorry, and you won't do it any more?" she asked.
+"When you're sorry, people are kind."
+
+"I don't deserve that they should be kind," said Anna, looking up
+mournfully at her little adviser.
+
+"Father and mother were kind afterwards," said Daisy.  "I had to be
+punished though.  I didn't have eggs for breakfast for a whole month
+after I changed the goose.  I like eggs for breakfast," she added,
+thoughtfully.  Then glancing at her basket, as she got down from the
+gate, "Mother sent those to Mrs Forrest.  I came through the garden to
+find you, but I'm going back over the field.  You haven't been to see
+Star for ever so long.  She's growing a real beauty."
+
+Long after Daisy was out of sight her simple words lingered in Anna's
+mind.  They had made her feel less miserable, though nothing was
+altered.  "When you're sorry, people are kind," she repeated.  If her
+grandfather knew the very worst, if he knew that she had actually been
+ashamed of him, would he possibly forgive her? would he ever look kindly
+at her again?  Anna sat up and dried her tears.  She lifted her head
+with a sudden resolve.  "I will tell him," she said to herself, "every
+bit about it, from the very beginning, and then I must bear whatever he
+says, and whatever Delia says."
+
+It was easy to make this brave resolve, with no one to hear it but the
+quiet cows feeding in the field, but when the evening came, and she
+stood for the second time at Number 4 Back Row, her heart beat quickly
+with fear.  When she thought of her grandfather's kind face her courage
+rose a little, but when she thought of what she had to tell him, it fell
+so low that she was almost inclined to run away.  The door opened, but
+this time Mrs Cooper did not leave her outside.  She flung open the
+door of the sitting-room with her other hand, and said in a loud voice,
+"Miss Forrest, sir."
+
+Anna entered, half afraid as to what she should see, for she had made up
+her mind that her grandfather was really very ill.  To her relief, the
+Professor and his shabby little room looked unaltered.  He was sitting
+in his arm-chair by the window, tired and worn, as she had often found
+him before, after one of his long walks, and held out his kind hand to
+welcome her as usual.
+
+"Oh my dear Anna," he said, "you've come to see me.  That's right.  Come
+and sit here."
+
+There was a chair close to him, and as she took it, Anna noticed a piece
+of half-finished knitting on the table, which she knew belonged to
+Delia.  "If Delia comes in," she thought to herself, "I _can't_ do it."
+
+"Are you better, grandfather?" she managed to ask, in a very subdued
+voice.
+
+"Oh, I'm getting on splendidly!" he answered, "with such a good nurse,
+and so much care and attention, I shall soon be better than ever I was
+before."
+
+There was no mistaking the expression in his face as he turned it
+towards her.  Not only welcome and kindness, but love, shone from it
+brightly.  In the midst of her confusion Anna wondered how it was that
+she had never felt so sure of her grandfather's affection before.  And
+now, perhaps, she was to lose it.
+
+"You can't think how wonderfully kind every one is," he continued.  "I
+really might almost think myself an important person in Dornton.  They
+send messages and presents, and are ready to do anything to help me.
+Mr Hurst came in just now to tell me that he has arranged to fill my
+place as organist for a whole month, so that I may have a rest.  They're
+very nice, good people in Dornton.  That kind Mrs Winn offered to come
+and read to me, and then Delia is like another grand-daughter, you
+know."
+
+Anna's heart was full as he chatted on.  Must she tell him?  Might she
+not put it off a little?
+
+"And so you went to a picnic yesterday?" he went on, as she sat silently
+by him.  "Was it very pleasant?  Let me see, did the sun shine?  You
+must tell me all about it.  I am to be an idle man now, you know, and
+shall want every one to amuse me with gossip."
+
+"Grandfather," cried Anna, with a sudden burst of courage, "I want to
+tell you--I've done something very wrong."
+
+The Professor turned his gentle glance upon her.
+
+"We all have to say that, my dear," he answered, "very often.  But I'm
+sure you're sorry for it, whatever it is."
+
+"It's something very bad," murmured Anna, "Delia knows.  She won't
+forgive me, I know, but I thought perhaps you would."
+
+"Is it to Delia you have done wrong?" asked Mr Goodwin.
+
+"No.  To you," replied Anna, gaining courage as she went on, "I--"
+
+The Professor stroked her fair hair gently.  It was just the same colour
+as Prissy's, he thought.
+
+"Then I don't want to hear any more, my dear," he said, "for I know all
+about it already."
+
+The relief was so great, after the effort of speaking, that Anna burst
+into tears, but they were tears full of comfort, and had no bitterness
+in them.
+
+"Oh, grandfather," she sobbed, "you _are_ good.  Better than any one.  I
+will never, never--"
+
+"Hush, my dear, hush," said the Professor, patting her hand gently, and
+trying to console her by all the means in his power.
+
+"I wonder where Delia is!" he said at last, finding that his efforts
+were useless.
+
+Anna sat up straight in her chair at the name, and dried her tears.  She
+dreaded seeing Delia, but it must be faced.
+
+"She was here the moment before you came in," he continued.  "Call her,
+my dear."
+
+It was not possible to be very far off in Mr Goodwin's house, and
+Delia's voice answered from the kitchen, when Anna opened the door and
+called her.  A few minutes afterwards she came into the room carrying a
+tray full of tea-things; her quick glance rested first on Anna's
+tear-stained face, and then on the Professor.
+
+"Anna and I have had a nice talk, my dear Delia," he said, with an
+appealing look, "and now we should all like some tea."
+
+Delia understood the look.  She put down her tray, went promptly up to
+Anna, and kissed her:
+
+"Come and help me to get the tea ready," she said; "it's quite time the
+Professor had something to eat."
+
+So Anna was forgiven, and it was in this way that, during her visit to
+Waverley, she began dimly to see what the best things are, and to see it
+through sorrow and failure.  It was a lesson she had to go on learning,
+like the rest of us, all through her life--not an easy lesson, or one to
+be quickly known.  Sometimes we put it from us impatiently, and choose
+something which looks more enticing, and not so dull, and for a time we
+go on our way gaily--and then, a sorrow, or perhaps a sin, brings home
+to us that everything is worthless compared to Love, Truth, and
+Faithfulness to Duty, and that if we have been false to them, there is
+no comfort anywhere until we return to serve them with tears of
+repentance.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Thistle and Rose, by Amy Walton
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