Broona, especially, can hardly keep away from Salemina; and
she is such a fascinating midget, I should think anybody would be
glad to have her included in a marriage contract. 'You have a
weeny, weeny line between your eyebrows, just like my daddy's,' she
said to Salemina the other day. 'It's such a little one, perhaps I
can kiss it away; but daddy has too many, and they are cutted too
deep. Sometimes he whispers, 'Daddy is sad, Broona,' and then I
say, 'Play up, play up, and play the game!' and that makes him
smile.'"
"She is a darling," said Francesca, with the suspicion of a tear in
her eye. "'Were you ever in love, Miss Fancy?' she asked me once.
'I was; it was long, long ago before I belonged to daddy'; and
another time when I had been reading to her, she said 'I often think
that when I get into the kingdom of heaven the person I'll be
gladdest to see will be Marjorie Fleming.' Yes, the children are
sure to help; they always do in whatever circumstances they chance
to be placed. Did you notice Salemina with them at tea-time,
yesterday? It was such a charming scene. The heavy rain had kept
them in, and things had gone wrong in the nursery. Salemina had
glued the hair on Broona's dolly, and knit up a heart-breaking wound
in her side. Then she mended the legs of all the animals in the
Noah's ark, so that they stood firm, erect, and proud; and when, to
draw the children's eyes from the wet window-panes, she proposed a
story, it was pretty to see the grateful youngsters snuggle in her
lap and by her side.
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