it; what a charm, the sound of Silver Lake had for Daisy. No wonder, to
a little girl who had lain for so many weeks looking out of one window,
where there was not much to be seen, either.

"Who is going, Daisy?" said the doctor.

"Mamma means to make up a large party--I do not know exactly who."

"Then I think I can promise that you shall go too. You may count upon me
for that."

Daisy's eyes shone and sparkled, but she said not a word. Preston was
less sagacious.

"Will you do something to make her foot strong, sir?" he asked.

"When you have studied in my profession, you will know more about a
physician's powers,"--was all the answer he got. The doctor turned off
to conversation with other people, and Daisy was left to herself again.
She was very happy; it was very pleasant to lie there comfortably on the
sofa, and feel that her long imprisonment was over; it was amusing to
look at so many people together, after having for days and days looked
at only one; and the old wonted scene, the place and the lights, and the
flowers and the dresses, yes, and the voices, gave her the new sense of
being at home. Nevertheless, Daisy mused a little over some things that
were not altogether pleasant. The faces that she scanned had none of
them the placid nobleness of the face of her black nurse; no voice
within her hearing had such sweet modulation; and Daisy felt a
consciousness that Juanita's little cottage lay within the bounds of a
kingdom which Mrs. Randolph's drawing-room had no knowledge of.