What brought my baby out this bitter night?" she
asked, as she found the child half perishing with cold and wet, and
caught and strained her to her bosom.
"Oh, the hail and snow came down so fast, and the wind shook the house
so hard, and I could not sleep in the warm bed while you were out in the
storm. So I stole softly down to find you. Don't go again, Marian. I
love you so--oh! I love you so!"
At this moment the child caught sight of Thurston standing with his face
half muffled in his cloak. A figure to be strangely recognized under
similar circumstances in after years. Then she did not know him, but
inquired:
"Who is that, Marian?"
"A friend, dear, who came home with me. Good-night, sir."
And so dismissing Thurston, he walked rapidly away. She hurried with
Miriam to the house.
CHAPTER XXI.
ONE OF SANS SOUCI'S TRICKS.
Sans Souci stood before the parlor mirror, gazing into it, seeing--not
the reflected image of her own elfish figure, or pretty, witching face,
with its round, polished forehead, its mocking eyes, its sunny, dancing
curls, its piquant little nose, or petulant little lips--but
contemplating, as through a magic glass, far down the vista of her
childhood--childhood scarcely past, yet in its strong contrast to the
present, seeming so distant, dim, and unreal, that her reminiscence of
its days resembled more a vague dream of a pre-existence, than a
rational recollection of a part of her actual life on earth.
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