Miss Dexie | Page 4

her husband also, and when word came
from Halifax that a furnished house awaited the family, Mrs. Sherwood
easily persuaded her bereaved sister in-law to accompany them thither.
A few weeks later, the family--consisting of Mrs. Sherwood and her
brother's childless widow; Gussie and Dexie, twin girls of sixteen;
Louie, aged thirteen, Georgie ten, Flossie three, and a year-old baby in
the arms of black Dinah--arrived in Halifax, where this story properly

begins.
CHAPTER II.
The new home awaiting the family was situated in the south end of the
city. The house, which is still considered a desirable residence, was
built in a style very common in Halifax, for the accommodation of two
tenants. The owner, a Mr. Gurney, lived in one part of it; he was a
native of England, but at the solicitation of his brother, who was an
officer in one of the regiments, he had removed to Nova Scotia, and
was doing a prosperous business on Granville Street.
Mr. Gurney had a large family. Cora, the eldest, was just out of her
teens; then came Launcelot or Lancy, as he was usually called; then
Elsie, and so on, till you came to an infant in arms. As the cabs
containing the Sherwood family drove up to the house, the nursery
windows in the second story of the Gurney household were filled with
childish faces, anxious to see what sort of playmates their new
neighbors might be; and when the young strangers alighted on the
sidewalk they observed the happy faces and smiled back in return, thus
pleasantly intimating that they hoped to be friends. But when Dinah
appeared with the baby, the faces in the window betrayed their
astonishment. "Oh! a black nurse! and the baby don't seem a bit
frightened of her!" they exclaimed in surprise.
"I wonder if they love her when she is so very black," said little Gracie.
"I shouldn't love to kiss her, would you, Percy?" looking at their own
fair-faced nurse in loving approval.
Mrs. Sherwood was surprised to find the house so neatly and
comfortably arranged, but she soon learned that she was indebted to
Mrs. Gurney for this pleasant state of affairs, for she had given Mr.
Sherwood much material assistance in making the rooms look
home-like and cheerful.
In the evening, when the family were assembled in the parlor, Mrs.
Gurney tapped lightly at the door, and her cordial greeting seemed
more like that of a friend than the first meeting of strangers, and when

Mrs. Sherwood began to thank her for the thoughtful attentions that had
made their home-coming so pleasant, she stopped her with a word.
"Do not thank me, I beg of you, Mrs. Sherwood," she said, with a smile.
"I have only done for you what I wish someone had done for me when I
first came to Halifax. I know by experience," she added, as a smile lit
up her motherly face, "what it is to come into a strange place, among
strange people, with a hundred things needing to be done at once, and a
family of children to attend to besides. I felt sure you would like the
place better if you found it a bit home-like and settled, but I have come
in to explain. I was afraid you might think I was making myself too
busy in your affairs. Now, I do hope, Mrs. Sherwood, that you will not
make strangers of us after this." Her face beamed with kindness as she
spoke, and after a short and friendly conversation she withdrew.
The next day was a busy one in the Sherwood household, but in the
afternoon the twin girls were invited to go for a walk with the young
ladies next door, while Louie was persuaded to go up to the nursery
with the Gurney children.
Louie felt very shy when she found herself among so many little
strangers, but the kind, good-natured nurse, in white cap and apron,
who presided over this restless brood, soon set her at ease by bidding
the children show Louie their toys. And what a store of them there were
to be sure. There were several miniature sets of dishes of various
patterns, and whole families of dolls, from the aged grandmother in a
white frilled cap, to the tiny china specimen that was too small to be
dressed. There were Noah's arks that held animals that would have
astonished old Noah himself, and rocking-horses in various stages of
dilapidation, from the bright new one with only a scratch on his leg, to
the headless and tailless steed that rocked in a melancholy way in the
corner. Then there was a swing that hung from the ceiling, and a
springy teeter-board that could bounce the little ones quite into the air.
These and