Miss McDONALD
BY
MRS. MARY J. HOLMES
AUTHOR OF "THE LEIGHTON HOMESTEAD," "MILLBANK; OR, ROGER IRVING'S WARD,""MILDRED; OR, THE CHILD OF ADOPTION," "EDITH LYLE'S SECRET," "ETHELYN'SMISTAKE," ETC.
THE MERSHON COMPANY
RAHWAY, N.J. NEW YORK
CONTENTS
- Extracts From Miss Frances Thornton's Journal
- Extracts From Guy's Journal
- Extracts From Daisy's Journal
- Author's Story
- The Divorce
- Extracts From Diaries
- Five Years Later
- Daisy's Letter
- Daisy, Tom, And That Other One
- Miss McDonald
- At Saratoga
- In The Sick-room
- Daisy's Journal
MISS McDONALD
CHAPTER I
EXTRACTS FROM MISS FRANCES THORNTON'S JOURNAL
Elmwood, June 15, 18—.
I have been out among my flowers all the morning, digging, weeding, andtransplanting, and then stopping a little to rest. Such perfectsuccesses as my roses are this year, while my white lilies are thewonder of the town, and yet my heart was not with them to-day, and itwas nothing to me that those fine people staying at the Towers came intothe grounds while I was at work, "just to see and admire," they said,adding that there was no place like Elmwood in all the town ofCuylerville. I know that, and Guy and I have been so happy here, and Iloved him so much, and never dreamed what was in store for me until itcame so suddenly and seemed like a heavy blow.
Why did he want to get married, when he has lived to be thirty yearsold, without a care of any kind, and with money enough to allow him toindulge his taste for books, and pictures, and travel, and is respectedby everybody, looked up to as the first man in town, and petted andcared for by me as few brothers have ever been petted and cared for;why, I say, did he want a change, and, if he must be married, why needhe take a child of sixteen, whom he has only known since Christmas, andwhose sole recommendation, so far as I can learn, is her pretty face?
Daisy McDonald is her name, and she lives in Indianapolis, where herfather is a poor lawyer, and Guy met her last winter in Chicago and fellin love at once, and made two or three journeys West on "importantbusiness," he said, and then, some time in May, told me he was going tobring me a sister, the sweetest little creature, with such beautifulblue eyes