Joan's handful

AN October afternoon, bright and sunny; the touch of frost in the previous night had only accentuated the vividness of colour in the beech trees that surrounded Old Bellerton Re...

JOAN was having a busy day. Her mother and sister were expected that afternoon. She had been up since daybreak; both she and her father were nervously anxious that the old recto...

The old General had been delighted. His motherless daughters were both a care and anxiety to him. Gout was troubling him. He was impatient to go abroad and try a cure, so he pus...

THE next day was Saturday, and if Joan had not had a fund of cheeriness and good temper in herself and an unflinching amount of pluck and patience, she would never have been abl...

It was so like old times that Joan almost smiled. She was sorry for her father, for he had set his heart on seeing his wife in church that morning, and the disappointment was gr...

THE dinner at the Hall went off very well. Cecil was quite happy, seated between Derrick and a young soldier, Captain Harry Clavering, who took her in. Joan's lot was Wilmot Gas...

IT was not until the following day that Joan had an opportunity to talk with her mother, and then, as she wanted some things which the village could not produce, Joan drove her...

JOAN was making apple jam in the kitchen. Jenny was attending on her, for Sophia had gone to the dentist's in Coppleton; she very seldom had an afternoon out, and would not have...

IN three days' time, the rector was moved home, and in a fortnight he was going about much as usual; but the result of his sojourn with Major Armitage was a distinct friendship...

JOAN nearly forgot to meet Banty as arranged, for a letter in the morning absorbed her thoughts. It was from her godmother, Lady Alicia, saying she was coming down into their ne...

LADY ALICIA threw herself heart and soul, for the time being, into the village circle in which she found herself. She walked out with Joan, and visited the old and sick; she too...

The rector ushered the Major into the drawing-room as he spoke. Joan was sitting by the fire, a big work-basket by her side; she was mending house linen with a skilful hand, but...

"My aunt has been putting her foot in it," she informed Joan. "Would you believe it, she forced her way into Rolleston Court yesterday afternoon? She went out for a constitution...

"Indeed I can. It is only four miles there. I shall rest when I get there, and have my lunch and walk back. It is nothing for a strong and hearty female like myself."

A WEEK later Mr. Adair returned, bringing Cecil with him. The meeting between the sisters was a very sad one. Cecil for the first time had been brought face to face with life's...

EASTER, on the top of their trouble, was a trying time to the Adairs, but Derrick helped them very much by his sunshiny optimism. Joan's creases smoothed out of her brows; she g...

WHEN the holidays were over, and her pupils came back to her, Joan grew happier. Her life was too busy to allow her much time for brooding. She found more and more to interest h...

IT had been raining all day, but when the little local train drew up at the station, the sun was shining through the clouds, and every tree and bush held thousands of diamond po...

Joan spoke joyfully. The post had come in rather later than usual. It was a lovely morning in June. Joan had met the postman in the avenue, and had just settled herself under a...

JOAN arrived home to find a good deal awaiting her. Cecil was in a fever to be away. She was going to stay with some friends of her mother's. Wilmot was already in town; Mr. Ada...

Sophia burst into the dining-room one morning about eleven o'clock. Joan was busy dressmaking. She was not a very good hand at it, but she was now, with knitted brows, cutting o...

AUTUMN passed. To Joan it seemed that her life was very full. Banty demanded a great deal of her time, but she did not grudge it to her. Talks with Lady Alicia came back to her...

IT was spring again, but Cecil was not back. Lady Alicia and she were now doing the Italian lakes together, and Cecil's letters, though few and far between, were very happy in t...

"I didn't know you liked him," she said bluntly. "He has been so unsociable and cranky that none of us has seen much of him. I hope you'll get on with him, Joan. He isn't good e...