ve oaks; each holding its place in independent
majesty, making no interference with the growth of the rest. Some of
these trees had a girth that half a dozen men with their arms
outstretched in a circle could not span; they were green in spite of
the winter; branching low, and spreading into stately, beautiful heads
of verdure, while grey wreaths of moss hung drooping from some of
them. The house was seen not very distinctly among these trees; it
showed low, and in a long extent of building. I have never seen a
prettier approach to a house than that at Magnolia. My heart was full
of the beauty this first time.

"This is Magnolia, Daisy," said my aunt. "This is your house."

"It appears a fine place," said Miss Pinshon.

"It is one of the finest on the river. This is your property, Daisy."

"It is papa's," I answered.

"Well, it belongs to your mother, and so you may say it belongs to
your father; but it is yours for all that. The arrangement was, as I
know," my aunt went on, addressing Miss Pinshon--"the arrangement in
the marriage settlements was, that the sons should have the father's
property, and the daughters the mother's. There is one son and one
daughter; so they will each have enough."

"But it is mamma's and papa's," I pleaded.

"Oh, well--it will be yours. That is what I mean. Ransom will have
Melbourne and the Virginia estates; and Magnolia is yours. You ought
to have a pretty good education."

I was so astonished at this way of looking at things, that again I
lost part of what was before me. The carriage went gently along,
passing the house, and coming up gradually to the same level; then
making a turn we drove at a better pace back under some of those great
evergreen oaks, till we drew up at the house door. This was at a
corner of the building, which stretched in a long, low line towards
the river. A verandah skirted all that long front. As soon as I was
out of the carriage I ran to the farthest end. I found the verandah
turned the corner; the lawn too. All along the front it sloped to the
dell; at the end of the house it sloped more gently and to greater
distance down to the banks of the river. I could not see the river
itself. The view of the dell at my left hand was lovely. A little
stream which ran in the bottom had been coaxed to form a clear pool in
an open spot, where the sunlight fell upon it, surrounded by a soft
wilderness of trees and climbers. Sweet branches of jessamine waved
there in