Chapter 13
As the last word left Fancy's lips, a long, sad cry sounded through the room; Lorelei sprung in, gave her one kiss, and was seen to run swiftly toward the beach, wringing her hands. Fancy flew after; but, when she reached the shore, there was nothing to be seen but the scattered pebbles, shells, and weeds that made the mock mermaid, floating away on a receding wave.
"Do you believe now?" cried Fancy, weeping bitterly, as she pointed to the wreck of her friend, and turned reproachfully toward Uncle Fact, who had followed in great astonishment.
The old gentleman looked well about him; then shook his head, and answered decidedly:
"No, my dear, I _don't_. It's an odd affair; but, I've no doubt, it will be cleared up in a natural way sometime or other."
But there he was mistaken; for this mystery never _was_ cleared up. Other people soon forgot it, and Fancy never spoke of it; yet she made very few friends, and, though she learned to love and value Uncle Fact as well as Aunt Fiction, she could not forget her dearest playmate. Year after year she came back to the sea-side; and the first thing she always did was to visit the place where she used to play, and stretch her arms toward the sea, crying tenderly:
"O my little friend! come back to me!"
But Lorelei never came again.
THE END.
* * * * *
LOUISA M. ALCOTT'S FAMOUS BOOKS
AUNT JO'S SCRAP-BAG: Containing "My Boys," "Shawl-Straps," "Cupid and Chow-Chow," "My Girls," "Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore," "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving." 6 vols. Price of each, $1.00.
ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, _Boston_.
* * * * *
LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON'S STORIES.
BED-TIME STORIES.
MORE BED-TIME STORIES.
NEW BED-TIME STORIES.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ADDIE LEDYARD.
Three volumes in a box. Price, $3.75.
_ROBERTS BROTHERS_, _Publishers_, BOSTON.
* * * * *
AUNT JO'S SCRAP-BAG.
CUPID AND CHOW-CHOW, ETC.
BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT,
AUTHOR OF "LITTLE WOMEN," "AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL," "LITTLE MEN," "HOSPITAL SKETCHES."
BOSTON:
ROBERTS BROTHERS.
1881.
* * * * *
Jean Ingelow's Prose Story Books.
In 5 vols. 16mo, uniformly bound.
STUDIES FOR STORIES FROM GIRLS' LIVES. Illustrated, Price, $1.25.
"A rare source of delight for all who can find pleasure in really good works of prose fiction.... They are prose poems, carefully meditated, and exquisitely couched in by a teacher ready to sympathize with every joy and sorrow."--_Athenæum._
STORIES TOLD TO A CHILD. Illustrated. Price, $1.25.
STORIES TOLD TO A CHILD. Second Series. Illustrated. Price, $1.25.
"This is one of the most charming juvenile books ever laid on our table. Jean Ingelow, the noble English poet, second only to Mrs. Browning, bends easily and gracefully from the heights of thought and fine imagination to commune with the minds and hearts of children; to sympathize with their little joys and sorrows; to feel for their temptations. She is a safe guide for the little pilgrims; for her paths, though 'paths of pleasantness,' lead straight upward."--_Grace Greenwood in "The Little Pilgrim."_
A SISTER'S BYE-HOURS. Illustrated. Price, $1.25.
"Seven short stories of domestic life by one of the most popular of the young authors of the day,--an author who has her heart in what she writes,--Jean Ingelow. And there is heart in these stories, and healthy moral lessons, too. They are written in the author's most graceful and affecting style, will be read with real pleasure, and, when read, will leave more than momentary impressions."--_Brooklyn Union._
MOPSA THE FAIRY. A Story. With Eight Illustrations. Price, $1.25.
"Miss Ingelow is, to our mind, the most charming of all living writers for children, and 'Mopsa' alone ought to give her a kind of pre-emptive right to the love and gratitude of our young folks. It requires genius to conceive a purely imaginary work which must of necessity deal with the supernatural, without running into a mere riot of fantastic absurdity; but genius Miss Ingelow has, and the story of Jack is as careless and joyous, but as delicate, as a picture of childhood.
"The young people should be grateful to Jean Ingelow and those other noble writers, who, in our day, have taken upon themselves the task of supplying them with literature, if for no other reason, that these writers have saved them from the ineffable didacticism which, till within the last few years, was considered the only food fit for the youthful mind."--_Eclectic._
_Sold everywhere. Mailed, postpaid, by the Publishers._
ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.
* * * * *
_Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications._
CASTLE BLAIR:
A STORY OF YOUTHFUL DAYS.
BY FLORA L. SHAW.
16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00
"There is quite a lovely little book just come out about children,--'Castle Blair!' ... The book is good, and lovely, and true, having the best description of a noble child in it (Winnie) that I ever read; and nearly the best description of the next best thing,--a noble dog," says John Ruskin, the distinguished art critic.
"'Castle Blair,' a story of youthful days, by Flora L. Shaw, is an Irish story. A charming young girl--half French, half English--comes from France, at the age of eighteen, to live with her bachelor uncle at Castle Blair, which is in possession of five children of an absent brother of this uncle. The children are in a somewhat wild and undisciplined condition, but they are as interesting children as can be imagined, and some of them winning to an extraordinary degree. They are natural children, in manner and in talk; but the book differs from some American books about children, in that it is pervaded by an air of refinement and good-breeding. The story is altogether delightful, quite worthy, from an American point of view, of all Mr. Ruskin says of it; and if circulation were determined by merit, it would speedily outstrip a good many now popular children's books which have a vein of commonness, if not of vulgarity."--_Hartford Courant._
"It is not too much to say that nothing more interesting or more wholesome is offered this year for older boys and girls. It is a charming story, in which the author has delineated character as carefully, and with as keen an artistic sense, as if she had been writing a novel. Her book is a novel, indeed, with children and the lives of children, instead of men and women and their lives, for its theme."--_New York Evening Post._
_Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. When not to be found, send directly to_
ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, =BOSTON.=
* * * * *
_Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications._
NELLY'S SILVER MINE.
BY H. H.
With Illustrations. 16mo, cloth. Price $1.50.
"The sketches of life, especially of its odd and out-of-the-way aspects, by H. H. always possess so vivid a reality that they appear more like the actual scenes than any copy by pencil or photograph. They form a series of living pictures, radiant with sunlight and fresh as morning dew. In this new story the fruits of her fine genius are of Colorado growth, and though without the antique flavor of her recollections of Rome and Venice, are as delicious to the taste as they are tempting to the eye, and afford a natural feast of exquisite quality."--_N. Y. Tribune._
"This charming little book, written for children's entertainment and instruction, is equally delightful to the fathers and mothers. It is life in New England, and the racy history of a long railway journey to the wilds of Colorado. The children are neither imps nor angels, but just such children as are found in every happy home. The pictures are so graphically drawn that we feel well acquainted with Rob and Nelly, have travelled with them and climbed mountains and found silver mines, and know all about the rude life made beautiful by a happy family, and can say of Nelly, with their German neighbor, Mr. Kleesman, 'Ach well, she haf better than any silver mine in her own self.'"--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
"In 'Nelly's Silver Mine' Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson has given us a true classic for the nursery and the school-room, but its readers will not be confined to any locality. Its vivid portraiture of Colorado life and its truth to child-nature give it a charm which the most experienced cannot fail to feel. It will stand by the side of Miss Edgeworth and Mrs. Barbauld in all the years to come."--_Mrs. Caroline H. Dall._
"We heartily commend the book for its healthy spirit, its lively narrative, and its freedom from most of the faults of books for children."--_Atlantic Monthly._
_Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. When not to be found, send directly to_
ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.
End of Project Gutenberg's Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag VI, by Louisa M. Alcott