The three girls grew up in the little country cottage. Their father
was in India, in a very unhealthy part of the country. He wrote home
by every mail, and in each letter expressed a hope that the Government
under which he served would allow him to return to England and to his
wife and children. Death, however, came first to the gallant captain.
When Primrose was ten years old, and Daisy was little more than a
baby, Mrs. Mainwaring found herself in the humble position of an
officer's widow, with very little to live on besides her pension.

In the Devonshire village, however, things were cheap, rents were low,
and the manners of life deliciously fresh and primitive.

Primrose, Jasmine, and Daisy grew up something like the flowers,
taking no thought for the morrow, and happy in the grand facts that
they were alive, that they were perfectly healthy, and that the sun
shone and the sweet fresh breezes blew for them. They were as
primitive as the little place where they lived, and cared nothing at
all for fashionably-cut dresses; or for what people who think
themselves wiser would have called the necessary enjoyments of life.
Mrs. Mainwaring, who had gone through a terrible trouble before the
birth of her eldest girl, had her nerves shattered a second time by
her husband's death; from that moment she was more ruled by her girls
than a ruler to them. They did pretty much what they pleased, and she
was content that they should make themselves happy in their own way.

It was lucky for the girls that they were amiable, and had strength of
character.

Primrose was delightfully matter-of-fact. When she saw that her mother
allowed them to learn their lessons anyhow she made little rules for