Well, if a saint could say that, why should I lose heart thinking
about my faults? What was the good of stirring up muddy water to try
and see one's own miserable reflection, when one could look up into
the serene blue of Divine Providence? If I had faults--and, alas! how
many they were--I must try to remedy them; if I slipped, I must pray
for strength to rise again.

Courage, Esther! "Little by little," as Uncle Geoffrey says; "small
beginnings make great endings." And when I had cheered myself with
these words I went tranquilly to bed.




CHAPTER VI.

THE FLITTING.


So the old Combe Manor days were over, and with them the girlhood of
Esther Cameron.

Ah me! it was sad to say good-by to the dear old home of our
childhood; to go round to our haunts, one by one, and look our
last at every cherished nook and corner; to bid farewell to our
four-footed pets, Dapple and Cherry and Brindle, and the dear little
spotted calves; to caress our favorite pigeons for the last time, and
to feed the greedy old turkey-cock, who had been the terror of our
younger days. It was well, perhaps, that we were too busy for a
prolonged leave-taking. Fred had gone to London, and his handsome