On the back was written, "For
Little Star, from Aunt Isabel." And the box? Why, that was quite as
wonderful in its way. For it contained a most beautiful pipe for the
Captain, of sweet brier-wood, mounted in silver; and oh! oh! such
a doll! Other children have seen such dolls, but Star never had; a
blue-eyed waxen beauty, with fringed lashes that opened and shut,
rose-leaf cheeks, and fabulous wealth of silky flaxen curls. Also
it had a blue velvet-frock, and its underclothing was a wonder to
behold; and the box was full of other frocks and garments.
Star took the doll in her arms with delighted awe, and seemed for
a few moments absorbed in her new treasure. Presently, however, a
shadow crossed her bright face. She glanced at Bob and the Captain,
and seeing that they were both engaged in busy talk, she quietly went
up to her own room, carrying the doll with her. Here she did a strange
thing. She crossed the room to the corner where Mrs. Neptune sat,
with her back rigid, protesting against circumstances, and set the
radiant stranger down beside her; then, with her hands clasped behind
her, and brows bent, she considered the pair long and attentively.
Truly they were a strange contrast: the delicate, glowing, velvet-clad
doll, and the battered old wooden image, with eyes of snail-shells
and hair of brown sea-moss.
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