Now he knew very well which he wanted, but it wouldn’t have been polite to say so; he wanted Julia. He had always admired her gentle ways, and her sweet patience with her trying sister Flaxie, and had often told his wife that he loved Julia because she was “like a little candle.” Perhaps you will know what he meant, for I dare say you have learned these lines at Sabbath school:
“Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light,
Like a little candle burning in the night;
In this world of darkness so we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.”
But just because Julia was such a beautiful little candle, her mother couldn’t spare her from home just now; it was much easier to spare Flaxie.
Uncle Ben tried to look delighted when he heard Flaxie was going; but it was not till her valise had been packed and she stood by the window prepared for the journey, that he happened to remember it wasn’t a good time to take her to Hilltop, for Milly was gone!
This was a blow! Flaxie winked hard, trying not to cry.
“That is,” said Uncle Ben, “perhaps she is gone. When I left home, a week ago, her mother was talking of sending her to Troy, to her Aunt Sarah’s: but I declare I had forgotten all about it till this minute.”
Mr. Allen was a man of business, and very forgetful, or he could not have made such a blunder as this. And there was Flaxie’s new and elegant doll, Christie Gretchen, all packed in cotton, in a box by itself, on purpose to show Cousin Milly.
“Well, my daughter, you can wait and go another time, that’s all,” said Dr. Papa, oh, so cheerfully, as if it didn’t make a bit of difference.
“Another time!” That was a little too dreadful. Flaxie felt as if it was more than she could bear, when her bonnet was on and everything ready.
“Oh no, papa, I don’t want to wait till another time. I want to go now.”