OR
THE ROAD TO ROME
BY
LAURA E. RICHARDS
AUTHOR OF "CAPTAIN JANUARY," "MELODY,"
"QUEEN HILDEGARDE," ETC.
ELEVENTH THOUSAND
BOSTON
ESTES & LAURIAT
1894
Copyright, 1892,
By the Two Tales Publishing Co.
Copyright, 1894,
By Laura E. Richards.
Copyright, 1894,
By Estes and Lauriat.
All Rights Reserved.
University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.
| Page | ||
| Narcissa | 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | Dreaming | 3 |
| II. | Waking | 21 |
| In Verona | 43 |
Narcissa was sitting in the doorway, feeding theyoung turkeys. It was the back door of theold gray house,—no one would have thought of sittingin the front doorway,—and there were crooked flagstonesleading up to it, cracked and seamed, with grassgrowing in the cracks. Close by the door-post, againstwhich the girl was leaning, stood a great bush of tansy,with waving feathery leaves and yellow blossoms, likesmall gold buttons. Narcissa was very fond of thistansy-bush, and liked to pluck a leaf and crush it inher hands, to bring out the keen, wholesome smell.She had one in her hand now, and was wondering ifever any one had a dress of green velvet, tansy-color,with gold buttons. The minister's wife once had abow of green velvet on her black straw bonnet, andNarcissa had loved to look at it, and to wish it weresomewhere else, with things that belonged to it. She4often thought of splendid clothes, though she hadnever seen anything finer than the black silk of theminister's wife, and that always made her think of anewly-blacked stove. When she was younger, she hadmade a romance about every scrap of silk or satin inthe crazy-quilt that Aunt Pinker's daughter, the milliner,had sent her one Christmas. The gown she hadhad out of that yellow satin—it did her good to thinkabout it even now!—and there was a scrap of palepink silk which came—was it really nothing butfancy?—from a long, trailing robe, trimmed withfilmy lace (the lace in the st