Thistle and Rose: A Story for Girls

A countenance in which did meet Sweet records, promises as sweet. Wordsworth.
“And so, my dear Anna, you really leave London to-morrow!”
“By the ten o’clock train,” added an eager voice, “and I shan’t get to Dornton until nearly five. Father will go with me to Paddington, and then I shall be alone all the way. My very first journey by myself—and such a long one!”
“You don’t seem to mind the idea,” said the governess, with a glance at her pupil’s bright, smiling face. “You don’t mind leaving all the people and things you have been used to all your life?”
Anna tried to look grave. “I see so little of father, you know,” she said, “and I’m sure I shall like the country better than London. I shall miss you , of course, dear Miss Milverton,” she added quickly, bending forward to kiss her governess.
Miss Milverton gave a little shake of the head, as she returned the kiss; perhaps she did not believe in being very much missed.
“You are going to new scenes and new people,” she said, “and at your age, Anna, it is easier to forget than to remember. I should like to think, though, that some of our talks and lessons during the last seven years might stay in your mind.”
She spoke wistfully, and her face looked rather sad. As she saw it, Anna felt ungrateful to be so glad to go away, and was ready to promise anything. “Oh, of course they will,” she exclaimed. “Indeed, I will never forget what you have told me. I couldn’t.”
“You have lived so very quietly hitherto,” continued Miss Milverton, “that it will be a new thing for you to be thrown with other people. They will be nearly all strangers to you at Waverley, I think?”
“There will be Aunt Sarah and Uncle John at the Rectory,” said Anna. “Aunt Sarah, of course, I know; but I’ve never seen Uncle John. He’s father’s brother, you know. Then there’s Dornton; that’s just a little town near. I don’t know any one there, but I suppose Aunt Sarah does. Waverley’s quite in the country, with a lovely garden—oh, I do so long to see it!”