. St. Nicholas [serial] . lledand watchful clump, stripped it of its crimson-tipped petals one by one, murmuring over andover: He loves me!—with all his heart! —to desperation!—a little!—not at all! till thegrass was strewn as with snowflakes, and themaiden, holding the last petal, said with adreamy half-smile : He loves me ! What she had seen had seemed to the shud-dering daisy a cruel thing to do, and she didnot understand how it could be that this com-passionate-eyed creature could destroy an un-offending daisy. Her confidence in thingsbeautiful was shaken. She wondered all daylong, and inq
. St. Nicholas [serial] . lledand watchful clump, stripped it of its crimson-tipped petals one by one, murmuring over andover: He loves me!—with all his heart! —to desperation!—a little!—not at all! till thegrass was strewn as with snowflakes, and themaiden, holding the last petal, said with adreamy half-smile : He loves me ! What she had seen had seemed to the shud-dering daisy a cruel thing to do, and she didnot understand how it could be that this com-passionate-eyed creature could destroy an un-offending daisy. Her confidence in thingsbeautiful was shaken. She wondered all daylong, and inquired, but without satisfactory re-sult, of every passing butterfly. On the next morning she felt less delightthan uneasiness when the damsel appeared. 683 684 TO DESPERATION. [June She advanced, wearing the soft and dreamy look that fitted her for being adored by every g,, flower. Reaching the clump, which the daisy was quite cured of wishing more conspicuous, again she stooped and gently broke off a daisy,—not. the one wehave been chieflytelling about, butanother sister,— she INQUI] :d of every passing an0- PuUed °H butterfly. its petals one by one, saying the same words as on the day before. With all his heart! she breathed into thelast one; and a look so beautiful came uponher face, as she lingered a moment in the grassbefore passing further, that the daisy trembledon her stem with an inexpressible feeling, herwhole consideration and judgment of thingsundergoing a change. All that day she swayed on her stem, dream-ing, did this daisy; and at night an invisiblebird sang on a neighboring tree with such ef-fect that the sentimental little thing, who haddrunk in all the music and moonshine, felt, asshe dropped asleep, that she longed for nothingso much as the moment when she herself wouldbe lifted up by the white hand of the maiden,and lose all her petals in the cause of bringingthat lovely look into her human face. By re-flection as well as inquiry she had arrived
Size: 1599px × 1562px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
