Now baby had a prejudice against caps, inveterate and unconquerable; and
grandmamma, nurse, and Esther were compelled to bear the brunt of her
antipathies. We have before said that Esther's cap _looked_ as though it
felt itself in an inappropriate position--that it had got on the head of
the wrong individual--and baby, no doubt in deference to the cap's
feelings, tore it off, and threw it in the half-open piano, from whence it
was extricated with great detriment to the delicate lace.
Emily took a seat near the window, and drawing her work-table towards her,
raised the lid. This presenting another opening for baby, she slid down
from her mother's lap, and hastened towards her. She just arrived in time
to see it safely closed, and toddled back to her mother, as happy as if she
had succeeded in running riot over its contents, and scattering them all
over the floor.
Emily kept looking down the street, as though in anxious expectation of
somebody; and whilst she stood there, there was an opportunity of observing
how little she had changed in the length of years. She is little Em
magnified, with a trifle less of the child in her face. Her hair has a
slight kink, is a little more wavy than is customary in persons of entire
white blood; but in no other way is her extraction perceptible, only the
initiated, searching for evidences of African blood, would at all notice
this slight peculiarity.
Pages:
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479