et, you look
different----"

"Miss Randolph will not shame anybody belonging to her," said Mme.
Ricard, graciously.

"Well, I suppose not," said my aunt. "I was going to tell you what
your father said, Daisy. He said--you know it takes a long while to
get to China and back, and if it does him good he will stay a little
while there; and then there's the return voyage, and there may be
delays; so altogether it was impossible to say exactly how long he and
your mother will be gone. I mean, it was impossible to know certainly
that they would be able to come home by next summer; indeed I doubt if
your father ever does come home."

I waited in silence.

"So altogether," my aunt went on, turning for a moment to Mme. Ricard,
"there was a doubt about it; and your father said, he charged me to
tell Daisy, that if she will make herself contented--that is,
supposing they cannot come home next year, you know--if she will make
herself happy and be patient and bear one or two years more, and stay
at school and do the best she can, _then_, the year after next or the
next year he will send for you, your father says, _unless_ they come
home themselves--they will send for you; and then, your father says,
he will give you any request you like to make of him. Ask anything you
can think of, that you would like best, and he will do it or get it,
whatever it is. He didn't say like King Herod, 'to the half of his
kingdom,' but I suppose he meant that. And meanwhile, you know you
have a guardian now, Daisy, and there is no use for me in your
affairs; and having conveyed to you your mother's gifts and your
father's promises, I suppose there is nothing further for me to do to
you."

I was silent yet, thinking. Two years more would be a dear purchase of
any pleasure that might come after. Two years! And four were gone
already. It seemed impossible to wait or to bear it. I heard no more
of what my aunt was saying, till she turned to me again and asked,
"Where are you going to pass the vacation?"

I did not know, for Mrs. Sandford was obliged to be with her sister
still, so that I could not go to Melbourne.

"Well, if your new guardian thinks well of it--you can consult him if
it is necessary--and if he does not object, you can be with me if you
like. Preston has leave of absence this summer, I believe; and he will
be with us."

It was in effect arranged so. My aunt took me about the country from
one watering place to another; from Sarato