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III. Dot.
IV. Uncle Geoffrey.
V. The Old House at Milnthorpe.
VI. The Flitting.
VII. Over the Way.
VIII. Flurry and Flossy.
IX. The Cedars.
X. "I Wish I Had a Dot of My Own."
XI. Miss Ruth's Nurse.
XII. I Was Not Like Other Girls.
XIII. "We Have Missed Dame Bustle."
XIV. Playing in Tom Tidler's Ground.
XV. Life at the Brambles.
XVI. The Smugglers' Cave.
XVII. A Long Night.
XVIII. "You Brave Girl!"
XIX. A Letter from Home.
XX. "You Were Right, Esther."
XXI. Santa Claus.
XXII. Allan and I Walk to Eltham Green.
XXIII. Told in the Sunset.
XXIV. Ringing the Changes.
CHAPTER I.
THE LAST DAY AT REDMAYNE HOUSE.
What trifles vex one!
I was always sorry that my name was Esther; not that I found fault with the name itself, but it was too grave, too full of meaning for such an insignificant person. Some one who was learned in such matters--I think it was Allan--told me once that it meant a star, or good fortune.
It may be so, but the real meaning lay for me in the marginal note of my Bible: Esther, fair of form and good in countenance, that Hadassah, who was brought to the palace of Shushan, the beautiful Jewish queen who loved and succored her suffering people; truly a bright particular star among them.
Girls, even the best of them, have their whims and fancies, and I never looked at myself in the glass on high days and holidays, when a festive garb was desirable, without a scornful protest, dumbly uttered, against so shining a name. There was such a choice, and I would rather have been Deborah or Leah, or even plain Susan, or Molly; anything homely, that would have suited my dark, low-browed face. Tall and angular, and hard-featured--what business had I with such a name?
"My dear, beauty is only skin-deep, and common sense is worth its weight in