Lady Daisy
AND OTHER STORIES

Little Flora's father gave her a small china doll on her fourthbirthday. It was only a little one, but Flora's father said that hislittle girl was very small too, and he thought she could not carry abig doll yet. When Flora was five years old her father gave her alarger one, and when she was six her father presented her with abeautiful baby doll in long clothes, that was almost as tall as BabyHenry, her brother, in the nursery. Nurse even said the dollie's longgowns would fit Baby if they were only wider,[Pg 8] for, of course, BabyHenry was much heavier and fatter than Dollie, though Dollie wasalmost as tall. Now came the question of a name. Nurse said that inthe last house where she lived the little girl had had a doll calledLady Sarah Maria, but Flora said she was not going to call her doll bythat name, because the funny old lady who lived opposite was MissSarah Maria Higginson, and her doll was far too pretty to be like thatold lady. Miss Higginson had once looked very angrily at Flora whenher ball had happened to bounce over the wall into her preciousflower-garden, so Flora did not like her. Perhaps the old lady did notlike Flora for spoiling her flowers! Well, at last, after muchthinking, the doll had a name given to it. It was called Lady EmilyMary Julia Gwendoline. Nurse thought it was too long, but Florareminded her that Emily was after her eldest sister, Mary after theparlour-maid, whom[Pg 9] Flora liked very much, Julia after Flora's AuntJulia, and Gwendoline after Flora's little sister; so that her dollwas like them all in something, of course, or she would not have givenher so many names. She had Emily's blue eyes, and Mary's pink cheeks,and Aunt Julia's sweet smile, and Gwendoline's pretty light hair.