two mentors, Mrs Reeves and Hannah Vernon,
united to combat this impression.

"To bear a sorrow _cheerfully_ is the only resignation worthy of the
name!" This was the older woman's verdict; the younger preached the
same precept in student vernacular--

"Why grizzle when you want to smile? Pray, what good can you do
yourself, or any one else, by going about with a face like a fiddle?
Remember Margaret France, and don't block up the window to shut out the
stars! Let them twinkle for all they are worth, the blessed little
things. They are _tired_ of hiding behind the clouds. You have a duty
to the living as well as to the dead; remember that!"

Yes, it was true. Looking back over the last eight months Darsie
realised what a debt of gratitude she owed to relations and friends
alike for their tenderness and forbearance. It had been hard on the
home party to have the summer holidays clouded by the presence of a
mourner who shuddered at the sight of water, collapsed into tears at
unexpected moments, and lived in a condition of super-sensitiveness,
ready as it seemed to be hurt by the most innocent word; yet how gentle
and patient they had been, every single one of them, down to Tim
himself! Mother and father, of course, had been angels; one took it for
granted that they would be, but who could have believed in such
consideration from the boys and girls. Dear old Clemence! What a
comfort she had been! Darsie had often been inclined to think that, for
sheer rest and soothing, no one could compete with a plump, practical,
matter-of-fact sister, who had no thought for "ifs" or "whys," but was
full of care to ensure your present physical well-being. Then, if for a
moment Clemence seemed to fall short, there was Lavender, ready to pour
out floods of sympathy, to mingle her tears with yours, and listen to
endless reminiscences. As for the boys, Harry and Russell forbore to
tease, affected blindness to reddened eyes, and said, "Buck up, old
girl!" with real heartiness of feeling, while Tim was assiduous in the
offer of sticky sweets.

The Vernons, lucky creatures! went off _en masse_ to Switzerland for
July and August. Darsie morbidly told herself that they were anxious to
avoid the depression of her own presence during the chief holiday of the
year. She was, as she expressed it, "too proud to say so," but the
inward soreness made her so cold and abrupt in manner that her friends
had good cause to reverse the accusa