unfit to enter upon more brilliant surroundings whenever the time
should come,--she took care that her pet chickens and her one doll
should have high-sounding names, such as would seem proper to the
aunt, and, more than this, she took a careful survey of the house
whenever she was coming home from school or from play, lest she might
come upon her distinguished relative unawares. She had asked her
grandmother more than once to tell her about this mysterious
kinswoman, but Mrs. Thacher proved strangely uncommunicative, fearing
if she answered one easy question it might involve others that were
more difficult.

The good woman grew more and more anxious to fulfil her duty to this
troublesome young housemate; the child was strangely dear and
companionable in spite of her frequent naughtiness. It seemed, too, as
if she could do whatever she undertook, and as if she had a power
which made her able to use and unite the best traits of her ancestors,
the strong capabilities which had been illy balanced or allowed to run
to waste in others. It might be said that the materials for a fine
specimen of humanity accumulate through several generations, until a
child appears who is the heir of all the family wit and attractiveness
and common sense, just as one person may inherit the worldly wealth of
his ancestry.




VII

FOR THE YEARS TO COME