uld keep him safe and bring him home again, she dried her tears and
went away to find comfort in the place where he had spent so many happy
hours with her. She had not been there before that day, and when she
reached the door she stood quite still and wanted very much to cry
again, far something beautiful had happened. She had often asked Will
for a motto for her hospital, and he had promised to find her one. She
thought he had forgotten it; but even in the hurry of that busy day he
had found time to do more than keep his word, while Nelly sat indoors,
lovingly brightening the tarnished buttons on the blue coat that had
seen so many battles.

Above the roof, where the doves cooed in the sun, now rustled a white
flag with the golden "S.C." shining on it as the wind tossed it to and
fro. Below, on the smooth panel of the door, a skilful pencil had
drawn two arching ferns, in whose soft shadow, poised upon a mushroom,
stood a little figure of Nurse Nelly, and underneath it another of Dr.
Tony bottling medicine, with spectacles upon his nose. Both hands of
the miniature Nelly were outstretched, as if beckoning to a train of
insects, birds and beasts, which was so long that it not only circled
round the lower rim of this fine sketch, but dwindled in the distance
to mere dots and lines. Such merry conceits as one found there! A
mouse bringing the tail it had lost in some cruel trap, a dor-bug with
a shade over its eyes, an invalid butterfly carried in a tiny litter by
long-legged spiders, a fat frog with gouty feet hopping upon crutches,
Jenny Wren sobbing in a nice handkerchief, as she brought dear dead
Cock Robin to be restored to life. Rabbits, lambs, cats, calves, and
turtles, all came trooping up to be healed by the benevolent little
maid who welcomed them so heartily.

Nelly laughed at these comical mites till the tears ran down her
cheeks, and thought she never could be tired of looking at them. But
presently she saw four lines clearly printed underneath her picture,
and her childish face grew sweetly serious as she read the words of a
great poet, which Will had made both compliment and motto:--

"He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."

End of Project Gutenberg's A Modern Cinderella, by Louisa May Alcott

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MODERN CINDERELLA ***

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