Gratia's Trials — page 162: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

G@RATIA'S TRIALS. 153 and drive with me in the park. The doctor says daily exercise is of great importance to me. And I shall want you to take Flora, my spaniel, out for a walk, between twelve and one, in pleasant weather.” ‘Yes, ma'am, all those things I could do,” said Gratia, feeling her heart warm more and more to the kindly old woman. ‘*And I give twenty dollars a month—but of course I shall always expect to give you a nice little present now and then, if you suit me,” added Mrs. Osard, patting her spaniel’s head. ‘* Now about your references. ” Gratia gave Mrs. Homer's name, rather hesitatingly. The old lady wrote it down ina tiny mother-of-pearl set of tablets that lay on the table beside her. ‘You may come to-morrow, my dear,” she said, ‘‘and I'll make all necessary inquiries in the meantime.” But Mrs. Osard was old, and there was a good deal of inertia about her, and the January weather was nippingly cold. ‘I dare say it’s all right,” said the old lady. ‘‘She wouldn’t © give the reference if she wasn’t prepared to have a good account given of her, and I can call on this Mrs. Homer at any time. She has got a face like a flower, and I always did believe in faces.” So when Gratia came the next day her room was ready, and the old lady was waiting eagerly to hear the papers read. After the stormy sea of trial on which the poor girl had been tossed about, Mrs. Osard’s cozy parlor seemed like a haven of perfect peace. | For the first day or two she could hardly realize that she had a home; but afterward she began better to com- prehend the fullness of her good fortune. Mrs. Osard cared little for society, and went nowhere except for her daily drive through the charming roads of the Central Park. She received but few friends, and they were mostly old ladies of her own stamp. Gratia had jast finished dusting the antique curiosities, which (E(@) m GEomicbooks