: Little maid Marigold by Stooke Eleanora H -

@FreeBooksThu 31 Aug, 2023

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CHAP.

LITTLE MAID MARIGOLD

MRS. HOLCROFT TELLS MARIGOLD ABOUT HER AUNTS, AND READS MISS PAMELA'S LETTER

"MARIGOLD, it is time for the boys to go to bed. I wish you would give them their supper, as I want to get this embroidery finished to-night, if possible."

The speaker was Mrs. Holcroft, a pale-faced, dark-eyed woman of about thirty-five, with a slight figure, and a somewhat nervous manner. She had been six years a widow, and a snowy cap rested on her brown hair--hair that was streaked with white around her temples. Marigold, her little daughter, aged eleven, was seated at a corner of the square table that stood in the middle of the sitting-room, so engrossed in the story-book she was reading that she failed to grasp the sense of her mother's request, and looked up inquiringly.

"What was that you said, mother?" she asked, turning a pair of thoughtful dark eyes upon her mother as she spoke, and carefully marking the place she was reading with a slip of paper before shutting her book,--"Something about the boys wasn't it?"

"Yes, dear. It is their bedtime, and I want you to see about their supper. I am sorry to disturb you, but--"

A slight sigh, and a glance at the work on which she was employed finished the sentence. Mrs. Holcroft added to her scanty means by doing art-needlework for a fashionable West-End shop, and all her spare moments were spent in designing new patterns for her embroideries, or in executing the orders she was fortunate enough to obtain.

"Of course I will see to the boys," Marigold replied cheerfully. "Must that work be finished to-night, mother?"

"Yes, my dear. You know the quarter's rent will be due next week, and we are badly in want of many things."

Marigold glanced around the shabby sitting-room with a sigh, as she rose and put away her book on a shelf. Then she crossed to her mother's side, and kissed her pale face lovingly.

"It's a shame you should have to work so hard, mother!" she whispered.

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