miss hurlburt had wandered farther into the woods than was her habit, beguiled by the wonderful loveliness overhead, underfoot, all about her. it was an afternoon in early october, but warm as june. the leaves were of a thousand brilliant hues; for one or two nights of keen frost, a week before, had seemed to set them on fire. there were boughs as scarlet as the burning bush before which moses wondered and worshipped. there were others of deep orange; and others, still, of variegated leaves, where the green lingered and was mixed with scarlet and brown and yellow, till some of them looked like patterns in a kaleidoscope.

underfoot was the delicate, fresh woodland moss. sometimes pine needles made the path[pg 51] soft; and sometimes, leaves, which had died earlier than their mates, rustled under miss hurlburt's tread. above, high over the flaming tree boughs, was the deep, lustrous, blue sky, with all its heavenly secrets. the air was full of that wonderful, radiant haze of autumn which makes the distance vague with beauty. and the temperature, as i said, was of june; so warm that miss hurlburt had taken off her hat, and let the scarlet mantle fall from her shoulders.

she herself, had a painter been there to study the scene, would have been no unworthy wood nymph. her figure was full, but not too full for grace. health and strength were in every line of it. her fine, abundant hair, like that of which lowell wrote, "outwardly brown, but inwardly golden," was brushed back from her low, broad forehead, and coiled in a great heavy knot, from which a stray curl or two had escaped, at the back of her proud little head.

she had great brown eyes, full of thought and feeling; cheeks, in which the rich, warm color glowed; bright, full, half-parted lips. she [pg 52]carried herself with grace, regal though unstudied. she never consciously remembered that she was eleanor hurlburt,—whose father owned the two great factories in the valley, and all the lands far and near, even these royal woods through which she walked,—but, unconsciously to herself, the fact gave firmness and elasticity to her step, and self-possession to her air.

she very seldom wandered alone so far away from home. the factory hands were a necessary part of the great wealth which surrounded miss hurlburt's life with ease and luxury; but some of them might not be altogether pleasant to meet in lonely places,—so she usually was driven out in the elegant victoria, with the spanking bays which were her father's pride, by the decorous family coachman; or drove herself in her jaunty little pony phaeton, with her own man, all bands and buttons, seated in the rumble behind.

but to-day it happened that she was walking. i said "it happened," because we speak in that way before we think; though nothing is farther from my belief than that any thing ever happens[pg 53] in this world which god has made, and in which he never loses sight of the smallest or poorest thing. at any rate, miss hurlburt was walking, and she wandered on, until at last she heard a tender little voice singing a tender little song. it was so fine and clear, it might almost have been the carol of a bird, only birds have not yet learned the english language, and this voice sang:

"your brother has a falcon,

your sister has a flower;

but what is left for manikin,

born within an hour?

"i'll nurse you on my knee, my knee,

my own little son;

i'll rock you, rock you in my arms,

my least little one."

such a quaint little song, such a quaint little voice! miss hurlburt wondered for a moment who it could possibly be. then she remembered hearing that, while she was away in the summer, an elderly english woman and a little girl had been allowed to take possession of the cabin in the woods which her father owned.

it was a little house with two rooms, which had[pg 54] been built, long ago, as a lodge for hunters; but which had for several years stood vacant, being too far from the factories to be a convenient residence for any of the hands.

miss hurlburt went on a few steps farther, and saw the singer. it was a pretty picture. a little creature, who looked about five or six years old, sat in the door-way tending a battered doll. she was almost as brown as a gypsy, this small waif, but there was a singular grace about her. her black hair hung in thick, short curls. she had great, bright, black eyes; lips as red as strawberries; and teeth as white as pearls.

miss hurlburt moved on softly, so as not to disturb her; and the waif took up her doll, and talked to it wisely and soberly, after the manner of some mothers.

"now, pinky, me love, i have singed you a song. now you must be good for a whole week of hours, or i shan't sing to you, never no more. i mean any more, pinky. be very careful how you speak, always; no good children ever go wrong in their talking."

[pg 55]

by this time miss hurlburt had almost reached her side.

"does your child give you much trouble?" she said, in a tone friendly and inviting confidence.

the mite shook her head, with all its black curls.

"pinky, me love? no; she only gives me trouble when she is bad. she is good most always, unless it rains."

"is she bad then?" with an air of anxious interest.

"certain she is: who wouldn't be? she has to stay in the house then; and she doesn't like it. would you? how can persons be good when they don't have what they want?"

by this time a nice, motherly-looking old english woman had heard the talk, and came forward to the door.

"missy," she said, "always thinks pinky is bad when she is bad herself; and missy is most always cross when it rains."

"what is your name?" miss hurlburt asked, bending to smooth the black curls.

[pg 56]

"berenice ashford," the child answered, in a slow, painstaking manner, as if the words had been taught her with care; "but they don't call me that,—they call me 'missy.'"

"is she your grandchild?" was the next question, addressed to the elderly woman, who had set a chair near the door and asked the young lady to sit down.

"no, that she isn't, and i would like much to find out whose child she is. to be sure, i should miss her more than a little, if i had to part with her: but, all the same, i should like to find her kindred. she belongs to gentle-folks, and i can't do for her what ought to be done."

a few more questions drew out the whole story. the woman, mrs. smith, had a son in america, who was doing well at his trade of dyeing; and he had sent for her to come out to him. he had sent money enough for her expenses, and she had taken passage in the second cabin of a steamer.

among her fellow-passengers were missy and her mother,—the latter a beautiful young lady, mrs. smith said, but very pale and sad. she had[pg 57] complained sometimes of a keen and terrible pain in her heart; but she had made little conversation with any one. when they were five days out, she had been found in the morning dead in her berth, with missy sound asleep beside her.

there was no possible clew to her history. in her trunk, full of her own clothes and missy's, was no scrap of handwriting, no address. the one or two books which were there, bore on their fly-leaves only the inscription "e. forsyth." she had taken passage as mrs. forsyth, but the captain knew nothing more about her.

mrs. smith had somehow taken possession of missy. she had played with the child and amused her a good deal, before her mother died; and now the little creature clung to her as her only friend.

there was something over a hundred dollars in the mother's trunk, but as yet mrs. smith said she had not used it. when she reached new york, instead of being met by her son, an old neighbor came for her to the steamer, brought her the news of his death, and gave her the money—nearly a thousand dollars in all—which he had been saving[pg 58] to make the new home they were to have together comfortable.

it was an awful blow, and she clung to missy, then, for it seemed as if the child was all she had left in the world. the captain said that he would advertise for the little one's friends; but, meantime, he was evidently very glad to be relieved of the responsibility of her.

"how happened you to come here?" miss hurlburt asked.

"i had always lived in the country, miss, and i didn't want to stay any longer than i could help in new york; and my son had been meaning to bring me here. it seemed a little comfort, to come where i should have come with him. he had engaged with mr. hurlburt—the one who owns the big factories—to come here and see to the dyeing; and mr. hurlburt was so good as to give me this little house rent-free, for a while. by and by i want to get something to do. if i could be housekeeper somewhere where i could keep missy, or head-nurse, or something of that sort, it would suit me,—but there's no hurry."

[pg 59]

"mr. hurlburt is my father," the young lady said, when she had heard the story through. "we must see what can be done. missy, should you like to live with me?"

the child considered. then she addressed her doll, inquiringly.

"pinky, me love, should you like to live with the lady? i guess she's good. would you go, if your mother went?" then she pretended to listen. "'no, i thank you,' pinky says; 'she couldn't go without grandma smith.'"

"of course pinky couldn't," miss hurlburt said, laughing. "well, then, i'll come again to see you, and bring pinky's new gown."

that evening, at dinner, miss hurlburt was radiant. she knew her father liked to see her well dressed, and she made a handsome toilet. she coaxed him into his very best humor by all the arts only daughters of widowed fathers are wont to use; and then, when he was seated comfortably before the open fire, which tempered the chill of the october evening, she unfolded her plan and her wishes.

[pg 60]

the beginning and the end were that she wanted missy,—she must have missy,—and the middle was that she couldn't be so cruel as to take from mrs. smith her one comfort, so she wanted mrs. smith. she represented herself as fearfully overworked, in keeping the establishment in order. now how nice it would be if mrs. smith could take all the troublesome details of that off her hands; could see that the house was clean, and the washing well done, and the buttons on. she had needed just such a person a long time, but she hadn't known where to find her; and now here she was, really made to order, as it seemed.

of course she had her way. the world called jonathan hurlburt a stern man, but it was not often he could say "no" to his motherless daughter. the very next day miss hurlburt went with her proposition to the little cabin in the wood; and, before a week was over, missy and grandma smith were duly installed as members of the hurlburt household.

as for the business part of the experiment, mrs. smith proved worth her weight in gold, as they[pg 61] say. before three months were over, mr. hurlburt discovered that she saved him five times her wages in money, and added immeasurably to the household comfort,—indeed, he concluded that she was, as eleanor had said, really made to order.

as for missy, with her quaint ways, her odd, old-fashioned speeches, and the little songs she sang, she was speedily the delight of the household. she lost no whit of her affection for grandma smith, but it was miss hurlburt who was her idol.

"pinky, me love," she used often to say to her faithful doll friend, "did you ever see any miss so nice as our miss hurlburt? you had better not say you did, pinky, me love; because then it would be me very sorrowful duty to whip you for telling lies."

miss hurlburt's delight in her little waif was unbounded. she dressed her up, like a child in a story-book. when she drove in her victoria, missy always sat beside her, gorgeous in velvet suit and soft ermine furs; and at home missy was never far away.

[pg 62]

before spring, another strange event took place. i will not say happened, for no chapter of accidents would ever have read so strangely. a young english manufacturer came over to america. mr. hurlburt had had, by letter, various dealings with the firm which he represented; and, on hearing of his arrival in new york, wrote, begging a visit of some length from him. the young man, whose object in his american journey was partly business and partly pleasure, saw an opportunity to combine both in this visit, and accepted the invitation.

he amused himself more or less with missy, as did every one who came to the house; but he had been a member of the household for several days before it occurred to him that she was not miss hurlburt's young sister. under this impression he remarked one night,—

"how curiously slight is the resemblance between yourself and your little sister, miss hurlburt!"

"oh! missy is not my sister," was the smiling answer. "she is treasure-trove, mr. goring."

and a little later, when missy had danced away[pg 63] in search of pinky, she told him the whole story. he listened with intense interest.

"and do you know her name?" he asked, at last.

"she says it is berenice ashford. you would laugh to hear the slow, painstaking way in which she pronounces it."

mr. goring had turned pale as she spoke.

"excuse me, miss hurlburt, but i truly believe your missy is my niece. my half-brother married against the wishes of his family, and i was the only one of them who ever made the acquaintance of his poor, pretty young wife. even when he died, last year, the rest would not have any thing to do with her. she had a brother in america, and she wanted to come here, so i took passage for her in the "asia." she insisted on coming in the second cabin, because it was quieter, she said; but i think it was to save expense, as well. tom had left her nothing; and, after the rest of the family had rejected her, i could see that it hurt her pride cruelly to let me help her. she should be all right, she said, when she reached her brother. she was[pg 64] to write me when she got there, but i have never heard a word. i confess that the hope to hear of her was one motive for my coming to this country."

"but she was mrs. forsyth," miss hurlburt said, in a curiously bewildered state of mind.

"certainly: forsyth was my brother's name. berenice ashford is the child's christian name. it was the name of tom's mother and mine."

"but i wonder you did not know missy at once."

"of course to find her here was the very last thing i could have expected. then i had not seen her for two or three years. i had communicated with my sister-in-law chiefly by letter; and it was my man of business, and not myself, who put her on board the steamer."

"but her brother? why has he never looked for his sister nor her child?"

goring smiled.

"you are bent on making me prove my title to missy, as one does to stolen goods. i think mrs. forsyth must have gone on without writing[pg 65] to him in what steamer she was coming, and he probably did not know my address. nor do i think he had ever shown any especial interest in his sister. it was only her indomitable pride which made her so determined to go to him, when the family of her husband rejected her. now, i think, i have proved property, and i'm ready to pay the cost of advertising."

just then missy's voice was heard in the hall, addressing a solemn exhortation to "pinky, me love," on the duty of never being greedy at table. miss hurlburt called her in.

"missy," she said, "what was your papa's name?"

"i never knew; did you ever know, pinky, me love? mamma called him tom."

"and did you ever hear mamma speak of uncle richard?" mr. goring broke in, eagerly.

"you do remember, pinky, me love. it is wicked to look as if you didn't. she said we couldn't go to america and find uncle john, if uncle richard had not given us the money. i remember that, but i had 'most forgotten; so if[pg 66] you forgot, too, i shall not whip you, pinky, me love."

"i am your uncle richard," the englishman said with entire calmness of manner and gesture, but with tears in his voice and his eyes. perhaps he expected the child to come at once to his arms; but she stood there, the same composed, self-poised little mite as ever.

"your great-uncle, pinky, me love," she announced,—manifesting an unexpectedly clear knowledge of degrees of kinship. "i think maybe we shall like him."

"and you will go with me back to england?" he asked, eagerly; for the little creature's likeness to his dead brother stirred his heart.

"does she say i must?" missy asked, shyly, looking at miss hurlburt.

"i will never say you must, missy."

"then, please, uncle richard, i am afraid going in a ship wouldn't agree with pinky; and we'd rather stay here, unless our miss hurlburt will go too."

[pg 67]

"soh, soh!" and mr. goring smiled a quizzical smile, "i see i have a heart to storm."

whose heart he did not say. but he lingered some time in america, coming back at frequent intervals to visit missy, as he said. the result was that when he returned to england little missy had become ready to go with him, even at the risk of exposing "pinky me love," to the perils of the sea; and miss hurlburt, thinking she needed something other than masculine oversight, concluded to go with her and take care of her, having first changed her own name to mrs. goring. and they all said what a fortunate thing it was that mrs. smith was there to keep house.