would give her less facility for overlooking my affairs. For
one moment I drew a breath of hope; and then my hope was
quashed. Miss Pinshon chose one of the two that opened into
each other; and my only comfort was in the fact that my own
room had two doors and I was not obliged to go through Miss
Pinshon's to get to it. Just as this business was settled,
Preston called me out into the gallery and asked me to go for
a walk. I questioned with myself a second, whether I should
ask leave; but I had an inward assurance that to ask leave
would be not to go. I felt I must go. I ran back to the room
where my things lay, and in two minutes I was out of the
house.

My first introduction to Magnolia! How well I remember every
minute and every foot of the way. It was delicious, the
instant I stepped out among the oaks and into the sunshine.
Freedom was there, at all events.

"Now Daisy, we'll go to the stables," Preston said, "and see
if there is anything fit for you. I am afraid there isn't;
though Edwards told me he thought there was."

"Who is Edwards?" I asked, as we sped joyfully away through
the oaks, across shade and sunshine.

"Oh, he is the overseer."

"What is an overseer?"

"What is an overseer? — why, he is the man that looks after