you up for the night--

"You must be very good to your mamma, Miss Primrose, for she has known
trouble."

"Neither you nor she saw me, and you raised your dear eyes to her
face, and I heard you say--

"'What is trouble, nursey Hannah?'

"'Trouble is a burden too heavy to be borne,' Hannah answered, 'but
when you came, Missy, it went away--you were like the spring to my
missus, and that is why she called you Primrose.'

"That night I called Hannah aside, and I made the faithful creature
promise that she would never again allude to my trouble to any of my
children. She promised, and kept her word.

"Now, darling, you shall learn what nearly broke my heart; what would
have quite broken it had God not sent me my three girls.

"Primrose, something more bitter than death came to your mother. Your
father is dead--I know where his bones lie--I know that I shall meet
him again, and I don't rebel. My other trouble was far, far worse than
that--

"Darling, you are not my eldest child--you are not the first bonny
baby who lay in my arms. Years before you were born I had a son. Oh!
how can I speak of him?--he seemed to be more beautiful than any other
child--he had ways--he had looks--Primrose, I can't go on, you must