Our Bessie

Breakfast was a more difficult affair than it had been on the preceding morning, and Edna, who was very quick-witted, soon saw there was something amiss with Bessie; but she was...

"MY DEAR LITTLE HATTIE: It is your turn for a regular long letter, as I have already written to mother and Christine. I don't write to father because he is so busy, and letters...

Breakfast was half over before Miss Sefton made her appearance; but her graceful apology for her tardiness was received by Dr. Lambert in the most indulgent manner. In spite of...

The unfortunate dispute between Edna and her brother had taken place on Saturday evening, and as Bessie went up to her room that night she made up her mind that the first Sunday...

Edna continued in this unsatisfactory mood until luncheon. Nothing pleased her. The novels were stupid. She was tired of love tales--why could not people find something else to...

"Tom does not consider himself a boy, I assure you; he is one-and-twenty, and ever since he has gone to Oxford he thinks himself of great consequence. I dare say we spoil him am...

Bessie had hardly fallen asleep before the storm broke. A peal of thunder crashing over the house woke her; the next minute a flash of lightning seemed to fill her room with whi...

One day, about three months after her adventure in the Sheen Valley, Bessie was climbing up the steep road that led to the Lamberts' house. It was a lovely spring afternoon, and...

To be nearly at the end of one's journey, almost within sight and sound of home fires and home welcomes, and then to be snowed up, walled, imprisoned, kept in durance vile in an...

Just before Edna left them Dr. Lambert came into the room. He seemed very pleased to see her, and at once offered to drive her to the station. Bessie was a little disappointed a...

It was impossible for Neville Sinclair to tear himself away from Brighton for another twenty-four hours, so he telegraphed to his mother and made arrangements to take another da...

Bessie's words to Edna had been strangely prophetical--"Trouble may come to me one day;" it had come already, in its most crushing form. The bond of sisterhood is very strong; i...

The journey seemed endless to Bessie, but she restrained her painful restlessness for Tom's sake. Tom was very kind after his own fashion; he got her some tea at Paddington, and...

"Not in the least; they are only just outside in the stable yard. Leo, our big mastiff, who gained the prize last year, is over at the farm. He is a splendid fellow, but a trifl...

"Richard is a perfect bear!" exclaimed Edna angrily, as she threw herself into one of the wicker seats on the lawn. It was a lovely evening; the sun was just setting, and she ha...

"I must not break the bruised reed," she said to herself. "Hatty's world is a very little one; she is not strong enough to come out of herself, and take wider views; when she lo...

An interruption occurred at this moment. The friendly guard made his appearance again, accompanied by the same white-haired old clergyman whom Bessie had noticed. He came to off...

Bessie had plenty of food for meditation while Dr. Lambert paid his visit to his patient, and he found her apparently absorbed in a brown study when he returned to the carriage.

Bessie knew that she would find Edna in her mother's dressing room--a large, comfortable room, much used by both mother and daughter when they were tired or indisposed. Mrs. Sef...

Bessie had spoken out of the simplicity of her honest heart; but there is a great power in earnestness, and her words were not to fall to the ground. In spite of Edna's faults,...

As Miss Sefton spoke the lane widened before them, and the hedgerows gave place to a short avenue of elms, the sunlight filtering through the thick interlaced branches, and thro...

"So you are going, after all?" was the only remark made by Edna, as she caught sight of Bessie's gray gown. "Well, be quick; I have nearly finished my luncheon. I thought you we...

Bessie did not concern herself much about her friend's coldness. She had tried to atone to Richard for his sister's unkindness, and she had succeeded in giving one person pleasure.

Bessie did not enter the drawing-room that evening; she felt that her presence would be decidedly _de trop_ under the circumstances. She made the pretext of fatigue the reason f...