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A Girl in Ten Thousand By: L. T. Meade (1854-1914) |
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BY L. T. MEADE AUTHOR OF "BASHFUL FIFTEEN," "THE CHILDREN OF WILTON CHASE,"
"GIRLS NEW AND OLD," "RED ROSE AND TIGER LILY," ETC. NEW YORK HURST AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS
CHAPTER I.
"You are the comfort of my life, Effie. If you make up your mind to go
away, what is to become of me?" The speaker was a middle aged woman. She was lying on a sofa in a shabby
little parlor. The sofa was covered with horse hair, the room had a
faded paper, and faded chintz covered the shabby furniture. The woman's
pleading words were emphasized by her tired eyes and worn face. She
looked full at the young girl to whom she spoke. "What shall I do without you, and what will your father say?" "I have made up my mind," said Effie. "I don't want to be unkind to you,
mother, I love you more than words can say, but I must go out into the
world. I must live my life like other girls." "You had none of these ideas until you met Dorothy Fraser." "Yes, I have had them for a long time; Dorothy has given them emphasis,
that's all. Dorothy's mother did not like her to go away, but now she is
glad. She says that nothing has made Dorothy into so fine a woman as
taking her life into her own hands, and making the best she can of it.
Before I go, mother, I will get Agnes to learn all my duties; she shall
help you. She is nearly fourteen; she ought to be of use to you, ought
she not?" "She would not be like you," replied Mrs. Staunton. "She is very young,
remember, and is at school most of the day. I won't argue with you,
Effie, but it tires me even to think of it." Effie sighed. She bent down and kissed her mother. Her words had sounded
hard and almost defiant, but there was nothing at all hard or defiant
about her sweet face. She was a dark eyed girl, and looked as if she
might be any age between seventeen and twenty. There was a likeness
between her and her mother quite sufficient to show their relationship;
both faces were softly curved, both pairs of eyes were dark, and the
mother must have been even prettier in her youth than the daughter was
now. "As I say," continued Mrs. Staunton, "it fills me with terror to think
of doing without you." "Try not to think of it, mother. I am not going yet, I only want to go
very much indeed. I am going to talk to father about it. I want to have
the thing arranged while Dorothy is here." Here Effie went suddenly on her knees by the sofa and threw one young
arm protectingly round her mother. "You do not know what it means to me," she said. "When Dorothy talks of
the full life, the keen interest, the battle, the thrill of living, I
feel that I must go into it I must." While Effie was speaking, Mrs. Staunton looked fixedly at her. There are
moments which all mothers know, when they put themselves completely out
of sight, when they blot themselves out, as it were. This time had come
to Mrs. Staunton now. After a pause, she said, and her words came out even without a sigh: "The question, after all, is this, Effie: What will your father say?" "When he thinks it out carefully he will be pleased," replied Effie. "He
must be interested in the profession I want to take up. How often oh,
how often, mother has he groaned and sighed at the bad nursing which
his patients get! You know you have always said, and he has said the
same, that I am a born nurse. Won't he be proud and pleased when I come
home and tell him all about the new ways in which things are done in
London hospitals? You know there are six of us, and Agnes and Katie are
growing up, and can take my place at home presently. Of course I know
that father is quite the cleverest doctor in Whittington, but nobody
gets ill here, and it is quite impossible to go on clothing and feeding
six of us with no means at all. I do not think I am vain, mother, and I
do not really care very much about dress, but mine is shabby, is it not?
I think I should look pretty as pretty as you must have looked long
ago if I were better dressed... Continue reading book >>
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Genres for this book |
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Fiction |
Teen/Young adult |
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