“I think that two trunks will be quite sufficient, after we lay aside all the articles not absolutely necessary.” And, suiting the action to the word, Mrs. Stanley selected several dresses from the heap of clothing on the bed, saying, “Just put these in the wardrobe again.”
“What, mother! My pretty pink tarletane to be left behind,—and this green silk, so becoming to me?” exclaimed Carrie, in a tone of expostulation.
“Yes,” replied her mother, decidedly, as she proceeded to separate other articles in the same way.
At first Carrie’s fair brow clouded, as she saw her prettiest dresses, her nicest linen and her most interesting books consigned to their resting-places on shelves, in drawers and closets again; but, quickly recovering her good humour, she followed her mother’s directions, and ere long the trunks were all packed, locked, strapped and ready, even the cards marked
Miss Caroline Stanley,
Manchester,
Mass.
and nailed on the ends.
The pretty little room was once more in order; but it looked desolate indeed. Mrs. Stanley could not help sighing deeply, and tears filled her eyes as she looked around her; while Carrie, all unconscious of her mother’s sadness, danced about in high glee, declaring that she “was never so happy in all her life.”
“Oh, mother, can it be possible,” she exclaimed, “that I am actually going away to school,—to boarding-school, too, where I have wanted to go so long? Oh, it is too delightful! It seems almost too good to be true!”
Mrs. Stanley smiled faintly.
“When you have put on your travelling-dress, my dear, come to me, in my room,” she said. “I want to see you and Susie together once more before you go. I must see if Susie needs any help now. You can dress for your journey without any further assistance from me, can’t you?”