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Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
In the brilliance of her conversation, in her studied glances, in a
thousand pretty ways that were skillfully rendered effective, she had a
decided advantage over her more beautiful cousin. When Louise really
desired to please she was indeed a charming companion, and young men are
not likely to detect insincerity in a girl who tries to captivate them.
The result was astonishing to Uncle John and somewhat humiliating to
Beth; for a new queen was presently crowned, and Louise by some magnetic
power assembled the court around herself. Only the youngest Horton boy,
in whose susceptible heart Beth's image was firmly enshrined, refused to
change his allegiance; but in truth the girl enjoyed herself more
genuinely in the society of one loyal cavalier than when so many were
clamoring for her favors. The two would walk the deck together for hours
without exchanging a single word, or sit together silently listening to
the band or watching the waves, without the need, as Tom expressed it,
of "jabbering every blessed minute" in order to be happy.
Patsy was indignant at the artfulness of Louise until she noticed that
Beth was quite content; then she laughed softly and watched matters take
their course, feeling a little sorry for the boys because she knew
Louise was only playing with them.
The trip across the Atlantic was all too short. On the fifth of April
they passed the Azores, running close to the islands of Fayal and San
Jorge so that the passengers might admire the zigzag rows of white
houses that reached from the shore far up the steep hillsides. On the
sixth day they sighted Gibraltar and passed between the Moorish and
Spanish lighthouses into the lovely waters of the Mediterranean. The
world-famed rock was now disclosed to their eyes, and when the ship
anchored opposite it Uncle John assisted his nieces aboard the lighter
and took them for a brief excursion ashore.
Of course they rode to the fortress and wandered through its gloomy,
impressive galleries, seeing little of the armament because visitors are
barred from the real fortifications.
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There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
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