I should probably
misrepresent the family, and make a bad first impression; and as for
Webb, you might as well send the undertaker for her."
"I don't think she will feel strange among us very long," said Leonard's
wife. "She shall hang up her stocking to-night, like the other children,
and I have some nice little knick-knacks with which to fill it. These,
and the gifts which the rest of you have provided, will delight her, as
they do all little people, and make her feel at once that she is part of
the family."
"Maggie expresses my purpose fully," concluded Mr. Clifford. "As far as
it is within our power, we should make her one of the family. In view of
my friend's letters, this is the position that I desire her to sustain,
and it will be the simplest and most natural relation for us all. Your
mother and I will receive her as a daughter, and it is my wish that my
sons should treat her as a sister from the first."
Amy Winfield, the subject of the above remarks, was the only daughter of a
gentleman who had once been Mr. Clifford's most intimate friend, and also
his partner in many business transactions. Mr. Winfield had long resided
abroad, and there had lost the wife whom he had married rather late in
life. When feeling his own end drawing near, his thoughts turned wistfully
to the friend of his early manhood, and, as he recalled Mr. Clifford's
rural home, he felt that he could desire no better refuge for his child.
Pages:
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30