"Well, Pigeon, how do you like your new friend?" asked the colonel, as his daughter took her seat beside him on the door-step.
Belle gazed thoughtfully across the lawn. "I like her," she answered, "but she is funny. I suppose it is because she hasn't gone much to school. She isn't like Charlotte, or Katherine, or me. She isn't prim, and yet—it is queer, father, but she makes me feel as I do when I am with Miss Celia—like behaving."
The colonel laughed his hearty ha, ha! "I hope you'll cultivate her society," he said, adding, "she is like Pat, as high-toned a fellow as ever lived. He was something of a dreamer, too, and this child has the eyes of a poet."
"They are gray," remarked Belle. "But I know what you mean, father; she looks as if she saw things far away. She was looking so this afternoon, and when I asked her what she was thinking about she said 'the forest.' I don't know what she meant, but Morgan knew."
"You have plenty of sense," said her father, looking fondly upon her.
"Of course I have, I am your child," laughed Belle, jumping up to give him a hug.
CHAPTER TWELFTH.
THE GILPIN PLACE.
"This is the Forest of Arden."