Wives and Daughters

Molly Gibson was twelve years old, the only child of the country doctor at Hollingford.Her mother had died when she was a baby, and she and her father were everything to each other.Once a year, the great family at the Towers opened their park to the respectable ladies of the town.

This year, for the first time, Molly was to go too.She woke long before dawn, too excited to sleep, and lay watching the light come.She was dressed in her stiffest white frock and taken to the Towers in the Miss Brownings’ carriage.

The house was the grandest she had ever seen, and the gardens seemed to go on forever.At first Molly was enchanted, wandering among the flowers and the smooth green lawns.But the day was very hot, the ladies talked over her head, and no one thought to give her any lunch.

By the afternoon she was tired, dizzy, and close to tears.She crept away to a quiet corner of the garden and fell asleep under a tree.When she woke, the Hollingford carriages had gone home without her.

A kind, pretty lady named Mrs. Kirkpatrick found her and brought her indoors.Mrs. Kirkpatrick gave her some food, settled her on a sofa — and then, caught up in the party, forgot about her completely.Evening came, and still no one had remembered to send Molly home.

At last a message reached Hollingford, and her father drove over himself to fetch her.Molly’s first grand day out had ended in hunger and neglect, but the sight of her father at the door made everything right again.