For her the day had departed with the sun that had made its light, and the darkness of the night had come again.
You may depend upon it that the old lady sincerely sympathized with the child who wept for her son’s departure, and so she petted little Drusilla, and took her out that day, when she went in the carriage to purchase some articles that were needed in the housekeeping.
CHAPTER VI.
THE NEXT FEW YEARS.
When she commenced to love she could not say,
Ere she began to tire of childish play.—Wordsworth.
The little girl grew to be a great favorite with the old lady; first, for her beloved and only son’s sake.
“Poor Alick was so fond of the child,” she said; though why she called the gay and prosperous young collegian “poor,” only aged mothers can tell.
Afterwards she loved the little one for its own sake.
“The child is such a quiet little creature,” she said, “and so intelligent and obliging.”
Little Drusilla had the freedom of the house. When her tasks were over in the housekeeper’s room she might wander where she would, and was tolerated like a pet kitten.