It had been arranged that the prize papers were not to be begun before the 1st of April, but that meanwhile the children were to do all they could to improve themselves, not only in composing, but also in writing and spelling. Miss Ashton gave them a composition to write during school-hours, one day in each week; but this did not satisfy Maggie, and at home she was constantly scribbling and reading aloud her productions to the admiring Bessie, till her mamma, who thought she was too much taken up with it, and that she scarcely gave herself time enough for play in her excitement and anxiety, forbade her to write more than half an hour each day, whether in school or at home; and this in spite of Maggie's plea that she was "only exercising her ideas."
So the days and weeks passed by, bringing nearer the Christmas holidays, when there would be no school for a fortnight; and about this time a very pleasant thing happened to our two little girls and their new friend Belle.
As you were told before, the three children had become very intimate, Belle being often invited to pass the day with Maggie and Bessie; and she dearly loved to go. Colonel and Mrs. Rush, with whom the children had "brought her acquainted," took a great interest in her, and sometimes, when Maggie and Bessie came to see them, would send over to Mr. Powers' rooms for Belle to come and join her young playmates.
She was a sweet-tempered and truthful child; but she was not as obedient as Mrs. Bradford's little girls, and was in some things rather spoiled. She would argue and fret when told to do a thing which did not suit her, and sometimes she would deliberately disobey. Her mother had been ill for a long time before her death, and not able to do much for her child; and her father perhaps humoured her more than was good for her, so that Belle had not had much training, and generally thought her own way was quite as wise and safe as that of older people. Mr. Powers himself became fond of dropping in at the Bradfords' pleasant home, where he always found a warm welcome.
One day, shortly before Christmas, Belle went home from school with Maggie and Bessie, and spent the rest of the day with them, and in the evening her father came to take her home. He sat down in the library with Mr. and Mrs. Bradford, while the three little girls in the other room were talking over some very important holiday arrangements.
"I fear my poor pet will not wear as bright a face to-morrow as she does to-day," said Mr. Powers, as he looked through the open doors at the happy little ones.
"Why?" asked Mrs. Bradford; "there is no trouble in store for her, I hope."
Mr. Powers shook his head sadly.
"Yes," he said: "I shall have to leave her for a while; and, what is more, so will Daphne, her old nurse. Daphne's son is very ill in Savannah, and the old woman, of course, is most anxious to see him before he dies. She is too helpless and ignorant to be allowed to go alone; and, as I have business in Savannah which must have taken me South in a few weeks, I shall go a little sooner, and see Daphne safely there. But we must travel day and night, if we are to be in time; and such a journey would be too much for my poor baby. I shall be forced to leave her behind, and it will go near to break her little heart. We must start to-morrow at noon, and I shall have to tell her in the morning."
"But what do you mean to do with her?" asked Mrs. Bradford.