er needle at 3
P.M. every day.

"Yes, mother;" and Merry went slowly upstairs, feeling that a part of
Saturday ought to be a holiday after books and work all the week. As she
braided up her hair, her eye fell upon the reflection of her own face
in the glass. Not a happy nor a pretty one just then, and Merry was so
unaccustomed to seeing any other, that involuntarily the frown smoothed
itself out, the eyes lost their weary look, the drooping lips curved
into a smile, and, leaning her elbows on the bureau, she shook her head
at herself, saying, half aloud, as she glanced at Ivanhoe lying near,--

"You needn't look so cross and ugly just because you can't have what you
want. Sweeping, baking, and darning are not so bad as being plagued
with lovers and carried off and burnt at the stake, so I won't envy poor
Rebecca her jewels and curls and romantic times, but make the best of my
own."

Then she laughed, and the bright face came back into the mirror, looking
like an old friend, and Merry went on dressing with care, for she
took pleasure in her own little charms, and felt a sense of comfort in
knowing that she could always have one pretty thing to look at if she
kept her own face serene and sweet. It certainly looked so as it bent
over the pile of big socks half an hour later, and brightened with each
that was laid aside. Her mother saw it, and, guessing why such wistful
glances went from clock to window, kindly shortened the task of
table-cloth darning by doing a good bit herself, before putting it into
Merry's hands.

She was a good and loving mother in spite of her strict ways, and knew
that it was better for her romantic daughter to be learning all the
housewifery lessons she could teach her, than to be reading novels,
writing verses, or philandering about with her head full of girlish
fancies, quite innocent in themselves, but not the stuff to live on.
So she wisely taught the hands that preferred to pick flowers, trim up
rooms and mould birds, to work well with needle, broom, and rolling-pin;
put a receipt-book before the eyes that loved to laugh and weep over
tender tales, and kept the young head and heart safe and happy with
wholesome duties, useful studies, and such harmless pleasures as girls
should love, instead of letting them waste their freshness in vague
longings, idle dreams, and frivolous pastimes.

But it was often hard to thwart the docile child, and lately she had
seemed to be growing up so fast tha