be better, my darling?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose so," sighed the child; but though she said no more,
she did not turn her eyes away from the blooming roses and the waving
leaves below her.

"Oh, it is so beautiful down there! Do let me go out, mamma!" she
exclaimed again a little while afterwards. "Do let me go!" and her
mother could not resist the beseeching tones. She arose, and at that
moment an elderly woman entered the room--a woman who looked so
exquisitely neat that one would have thought that she had no other
business in life than that of keeping in perfect order her gray hair,
with its snow-white cap, and her simple, spotless dress; but, on the
contrary, she was the house-keeper, and had the whole charge of the big
house, with all its complicated domestic arrangements. Both mother and
daughter exclaimed on seeing her, "Oh, Clarissa, how glad I am that
you've come!" And both began to ask her opinion as to the visit to the
garden, which the invalid so longed for, but which her mother hesitated
to grant.

Clarissa was a person of rare character, and a tower of strength in this
household, where, from the lady of the house down to the lowest servant,
her word was followed as law and obeyed with affection; and one took
into the clear depths of her honest, loving eyes explained the secret of
her power: they were "Mother's eyes."

"Say 'yes,' Clarissa, and let us go," begged the child, pathetically.

"The air is soft, all the birds are singing and calling us: why should
we not try it to-day, dear Mrs. Stanhope?" said Clarissa.