"Well Daisy," said Mrs. Gary,--"how do you like this new entertainment?"
"The pictures? I think they were very pretty, aunt Gary."
"How happened it that somebody else wore my diamonds?" said her
mother,--"and not you. I thought you were to be dressed for Queen
Esther?"
"Yes, mamma, so I was at first; and then it was thought best--"
"Not by me," said Preston. "It was no doing of mine. Daisy was to have
been Esther, and she herself declared off--backed out of it, and left me
to do as best I could."
"What was that for, Daisy?" said Mrs. Gary. "You would have made an
excellent Esther."
"What was that for, Daisy?" said Mrs. Randolph. "Did you not like to be
Esther?"
"Yes, mamma--I liked it at one time."
"And why not at another time?"
"I found out that somebody else would like it too, mamma; and I
thought----"
Mrs. Randolph broke out with a contemptuous expression of displeasure.
"You thought you would put yourself in a corner! You were not manager,
Daisy; and you must remember something is due to the one that is. You
have no right to please yourself."
"Come here, Daisy," said her father, "and bid me good night. I dare say
you were trying to please somebody else. Tell mamma she must remember
the old fable, and excuse you."
"What fable, Mr. Randolph?" the lady inquired, as Daisy left the room.
"The one in which the old Grecian told the difficulty of pleasing more
people than one or two at once."
"Daisy is ruined!" said Mrs.
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