il I opened
my eyes, and saw Olive! Oh, I thought I was in Heaven, surely; it
seemed too sweet to be true. I wonder I did not die, instead of faint,
with pure joy. Even after I had looked at her long, had heard her speak,
and felt her kisses, I could not believe it. I almost expected to wake
up and find that I had been dreaming between acts, on the cold, windy
stage, or that the manager was scolding me for falling to sleep, and
daring to dream of happiness and you. I don't think I would have lived
much longer, and perhaps when I found that I was really going to die, I
could not have left you without a little word of some kind, for my heart
used to nearly break with longing to know if you loved me yet, or would
ever want to see me again. I did not feel as though I ever had a right
to go back, but when I found that I was coming, that you wanted and
loved me, oh, mama! I thought then my heart would surely break, I was so
happy!"

At this point every one was crying. Mrs. Dering had laid her face down
in the pillows; the girls had, one by one, retired behind their work,
and Kat, with her head wrapped in the towel she had been hemming was
crying, while she vowed vengeance alike on saint and sinner.

CHAPTER XXI.

MY LADY.

"I would like to see my lady."

It was an imperious demand, that every one in the Dering household had
become used to, likewise, to the speaker, a mite of humanity, with
wicked big blue eyes, a pug nose, and a frowzled head of brown curls.

She was dressed to day, in a long white fur cloak, a cap of the same,
and a mite of a muff, with scarlet silk tassels, and hung to her neck
with a broad scarlet ribbon; and she had rung the bell with her own wee
hand, and presented her message, in that imperative way, that indicated
a spoiled, but precious specimen of babydom.

"I do hope you will forgive us," said the smiling faced young lady, who
accompanied her. "We don't intend to come every day, but mother made
some delicious chocolate cake yesterday, and I thought possibly Miss
Ernestine might relish a taste of it, with some of my wine jelly; and
when I spoke of bringing it, Pansy heard me, and insisted on coming too;
so here we are."

"How very kind you are," said Bea, taking the dainty wicker basket,
knotted with scarlet ribbons, and peeping in at its fancy glass of
moulded jelly, the delicious cake, and a bunch of hot-house flowers. "We
should be glad to see you every day; how could we help it,