isy did not leave her seat. She would have given
the world to have heard Rex's voice just then; she was beginning to
realize how much his sheltering love was to her. She would even have
been heartily glad to have been back in the little kitchen at the
cottage, no matter how much Septima scolded her.
All the girls here had the same haughty way of tossing their heads and
curling their lips and looking innumerable things out of their eyes,
which reminded Daisy so strongly of Pluma Hurlhurst.
Most of the girls had left the school-room, dividing off into groups
and pairs here and there. Daisy sat watching them, feeling wretchedly
lonely. Suddenly a soft white hand was laid lightly on her shoulder,
and a sweet voice said:
"We have a recess of fifteen minutes, won't you come out into the
grounds with me? I should be so pleased to have you come." The voice
was so gentle, so coaxing, so sweet, Daisy involuntarily glanced up at
the face of the young girl bending over her as she arose to accompany
her. She put her arm around Daisy's waist, school-girl fashion, as
they walked down the lone halls and out to the green grassy lawn. "My
name is Sara Miller," she said; "will you tell me yours?"
"Daisy Brooks," she answered, simply.
"What a pretty name!" cried her new-found friend, enthusiastically,
"and how well it suits you! Why, it is a little poem in itself."
Daisy flushed as rosy as the crimson geraniums near them, remembering
Rex, her own handsome Rex, had said the same thing that morning he had
carried her heavy basket to the gates of Whitestone Hall--that morning
when all the world seemed to change as she glanced up into his merry
brown eyes.
"We are to be room-mates," explained Sara, "and I know I shall like
you ever so much. Do you think you will like me?"
"Yes," said Daisy. "I like you now."
"Thank you," said Miss Sara, making a mock courtesy. "I am going to
love you with all my might, and if you don't love me you will be the
most ungrateful creature in the world. I know just how lonesome you
must be," continued Sara. "I remember just how lonesome I was the
first day I was away from mamma, and when night set in and I was all
alone, and I knew I was securely locked in, I was actually thinking of
tearing the sheets of my bed into strips and making a rope of them,
and letting myself down to the ground through the window, and making
for home as fast as I could. I knew I would be brought back the next
day, thoug
|