Bessie Bradfords Prize | Page 6

very precious to her, for she adores him, you
know; and there was another from her father, containing news which
she would like to give you herself, I am sure; so I leave it for her to do
so. And now comes her first dinner with the family, with you to dine
with her. But she is such a cool, composed little woman, and takes
things so quietly, that we are less afraid of over-excitement for her than
we would be for some I could name."
"Now, Uncle Horace," said Maggie, as he looked down at her with a
twinkle in his kind eyes, "you know I would keep quiet if you told me
to."
"You would try, I am sure, Midget," answered her friend, "but there are
girls and girls, you know, and it is easier for one species to keep quiet
under exciting causes than it is for another."
"But you can't tell how this species would be in such circumstances,"
said Maggie, "because I have never been very ill or had any terrible
injury, such as Lena's burns."
"I can tell that you are a very 'happy circumstance' yourself, and that I
am quite satisfied with you as you are," answered the Colonel, bending
another loving look upon the rosy, glowing face upturned to his, and
which broke into dimples at the allusion to an old-time joke.

Long ago, when Maggie was a very little girl, she had been very fond
of using long words--indeed, she had not yet outgrown this fancy; but
in former days, whenever she heard what she called "a new word," she
would presently contrive some occasion for using it, not always with
the fullest understanding of its exact meaning; and the results, as may
be supposed, were sometimes rather droll.
One summer, when Mr. Bradford's family were at the sea-shore, and
Colonel and Mrs. Rush were their near neighbors, Maggie had taken a
violent dislike to the mistress of the house where she boarded. The
woman was somewhat rough and unprepossessing, it is true, and hence
Maggie had conceived the prejudice against her; but she was
kind-hearted and good, as the little girl learned later. Having heard
some one use the expression, "happy circumstance," Maggie took a
fancy to it; and, as she informed Bessie, immediately resolved to adopt
it as one of "my words."
An opportunity soon presented itself. Mrs. Jones offended both
children, Maggie especially, and soon after, she asked Mr. Jones in
confidence, if he thought Mrs. Jones "a very happy circumstance."
Fortunately, the man, a jolly, rollicking farmer with a very soft spot in
his heart for all children, took it good-naturedly and thought it a
tremendous joke, and his uproarious merriment called Mrs. Jones upon
the scene to reprove him and inquire the cause, greatly to the confusion
and distress of poor embarrassed, frightened Maggie. And this was
increased by the fact that she took occasion to praise Maggie and
Bessie and to say what good, mannerly children they were.
Mr. Jones, however, did not betray confidence, and later on, Maggie
changed her opinion; but the "happy circumstance" had remained a
family joke ever since, and the expression was frequently brought into
use in the sense in which Maggie had employed it, and the children
laughed now as the Colonel used the old familiar phrase.

CHAPTER II
.
LETTERS.
They found Lena in the library, ensconced in state in her uncle's
comfortable rolling chair, in which, in by-gone days when he was lame

and helpless, he had spent many hours, and in which she could easily
be conveyed from room to room by the Colonel's man, Starr, without
putting her still tender little feet to the ground. It was natural that she
should be glad to be down-stairs again after all the past weeks of
confinement and suffering; but Maggie and Bessie found her in a state
of happiness and excitement unusual with the calm, reserved Lena, and
which seemed hardly to be accounted for by the mere fact that she had
once more been allowed to join the family circle.
But this was soon explained.
"Maggie and Bessie," she said, with more animation than her little
friends had ever seen her show before, "what do you think has
happened? Such a wonderful, such a delightful thing! I cannot see how
it did happen!"
Such a thing as had "happened" was indeed an unwonted occurrence in
Lena's young life; but she had been through so many new experiences
lately, that she might almost have ceased to be surprised at anything.
If she could have looked in upon her father and mother and invalid
brother Russell, in their far away southern sojourn a few days since, she
would have seen what led to the present unexpected occurrence. Mrs.
Neville