“Then us run away. They grow thick up that bank, and I’ve got a prize here for whoever keeps away longest. No, you shan’t see what it is. Any one who comes asking questions will lose it. Run away, Lina, you’ll miss your chance. No, no, Essie, you are not a competitor.”
“I must, Robert; indeed I must.”
“Can’t you spare me a moment when I am come down for my last farewell visit?”
“But you are not going for a good while yet.”
“So you call it, but it will seem short enough. Did you ever hear of minutes seeming like diamond drops meted out, Essie?”
“But, you know, it is your own doing,” said Essie.
“Yes, and why, Essie? Because misfortune has made such an exile as this the readiest mode of ceasing to be a burden to my mother.”
“Papa said he was glad of it,” said Esther, “and that you were quite right. But it is a terrible way off!”
“True! but there is one consideration that will make up to me for everything.”
“That it is for Aunt Caroline!”