a-Dios; I was to go down by sea;
roses bloomed there at Christmas-time, and oranges were to be had for
the asking. Gracias-a-Dios _is_ very far from New Bristol, Margaret,"
said Melissa Whiting, pausing. "It's all the distance between a real
place and an ideal one. I know how far that is!"

She was silent for some minutes; then she went on. "My elevation--for it
seemed that at New Bristol--was like a fairy story; I presume they are
telling it still. But if I hadn't you behind me, Margaret, I would put
Garda back there in all the snow, I would put her back in my old red
school-house on the hill (only she wouldn't know how to teach, poor
child!)--I would do it in a moment, I say, if I had the power, rather
than leave her here among the 'roses,' the 'oranges,' and the 'palms.'"
(Impossible to give the accent with which she pronounced these words.)
"I don't say my husband wasn't kind to me; he was very kind; but--the
Old Madam was here! He only lived a short time; and then, more than
ever, the Old Madam was here! Well, I did the best I could--you must
give me that credit: there was Garda to think of, and I had no other
home. It's so unfortunate to be poor, Margaret--have you ever thought of
it?--unfortunate, I mean, for the disposition. So many people could be
as amiable and agreeable and yielding as any one, if they only had a
little more money--just a little more! I could have been, I know. But
how could I be yielding when I had everything on my hands? Oh! you have
no idea how I have worked! We had no income to live upon, Garda and I,
there hasn't been any for a long time; we have had the house and
furniture, the land, Pablo and Raquel,--that's all. We have lived on the
things that we had, the things that came off the place, with what Pablo
has been able to shoot, and the fish and oysters from the creeks and
lagoon. The few supplies which one is obliged to buy, such as tea and
coffee, I have got by selling our oranges; I have taken enormous pains
with the oranges on that account. The same way with Garda's shoes and
gloves; I couldn't make shoes and gloves, though I confess I did try.
Then, if any one broke a pane of glass, that took money; and there were
a few other little things. But, with these exceptions, I have tried to
do everything myself, and manage without spending. I have kept all the
furniture in repair; I have painted and varnished and cleaned with my
own hands; I learned to mend the crockery and even the tins.