Louisa May Alcott: 16 Novels in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Луиза Мэй Олкотт

some twenty years ago. Amy was drawing the lovers, who sat apart in a beautiful world of their own, the light of which touched their faces with a grace the little artist could not copy. Beth lay on her sofa, talking cheerily with her old friend, who held her little hand as if he felt that it possessed the power to lead him along the peaceful way she walked. Jo lounged in her favorite low seat, with the grave, quiet look which best became her; and Laurie, leaning on the back of her chair, his chin on a level with her curly head, smiled with his friendliest aspect, and nodded at her in the long glass which reflected them both.

      So grouped, the curtain falls upon Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Whether it ever rises again, depends upon the reception given to the first act of the domestic drama called "Little Women."

Good Wives

       Table of Contents

       THE SECOND PART

       CHAPTER XXIV.— GOSSIP

       CHAPTER XXV.— THE FIRST WEDDING

       CHAPTER XXVI.— ARTISTIC ATTEMPTS

       CHAPTER XXVII.— LITERARY LESSONS

       CHAPTER XXVIII.— DOMESTIC EXPERIENCES

       CHAPTER XXIX.— CALLS

       CHAPTER XXX.— CONSEQUENCES

       CHAPTER XXXI.— OUR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

       CHAPTER XXXII.— TENDER TROUBLES

       CHAPTER XXXIII.— JO'S JOURNAL

       CHAPTER XXXIV.— A FRIEND

       CHAPTER XXXV.— HEARTACHE

       CHAPTER XXXVI.— BETH'S SECRET

       CHAPTER XXXVII.— NEW IMPRESSIONS

       CHAPTER XXXVIII.— ON THE SHELF

       CHAPTER XXXIX.— LAZY LAURENCE

       CHAPTER XL.— THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW

       CHAPTER XLI.— LEARNING TO FORGET

       CHAPTER XLII.— ALL ALONE

       CHAPTER XLIII.— SURPRISES

       CHAPTER XLIV.— MY LORD AND LADY

       CHAPTER XLV.— DAISY AND DEMI

       CHAPTER XLVI.— UNDER THE UMBRELLA

       CHAPTER XLVII.— HARVEST TIME

The Second Part

       Table of Contents

CHAPTER XXIV.

       GOSSIP.

       Table of Contents

      Inorder that we may start afresh, and go to Meg's wedding with free minds, it will be well to begin with a little gossip about the Marches. And here let me premise, that if any of the elders think there is too much "lovering" in the story, as I fear they may (I'm not afraid the young folks will make that objection), I can only say with Mrs. March, "What can you expect when I have four gay girls in the house, and a dashing young neighbor over the way?"

      The three years that have passed have brought but few changes to the quiet family. The war is over, and Mr. March safely at home, busy with his books and the small parish which found in him a minister by nature as by grace,—a quiet, studious man, rich in the wisdomthat is better than learning, the charity which calls all mankind "brother," the piety that blossoms into character, making it august and lovely.

      These attributes, in spite of poverty and the strict integrity which shut him out from the more worldly successes, attracted to him many admirable persons, as naturally as sweet herbs draw bees, and as naturally he gave them the honey into which fifty years of hard experience had distilled no bitter drop. Earnest young men found the grayheaded scholar as young at heart as they; thoughtful or troubled women instinctively brought their doubts and sorrows to him, sure of finding the gentlest sympathy, the wisest counsel; sinners told their sins to the pure-hearted old man, and were both rebuked and saved; gifted men found a companion in him; ambitious men caught glimpses of nobler ambitions than their own; and even worldlings confessed that his beliefs were beautiful and true, although "they wouldn't pay."

      To outsiders, the five energetic women seemed to rule the house, and so they did in many things; but the quiet scholar, sitting among his books, was still the head of the family, the household conscience, anchor, and comforter; for to him the busy, anxious women always turned in troublous times, finding him, in the truest sense of those sacred words, husband and father.

      The girls gave their hearts into their mother's keeping, their souls into their father's; and to both parents, who lived and labored so faithfully for them, they gave a love that grew with their growth, and bound them tenderly together by the sweetest tie which blesses life and outlives death.

      Mrs. March is as brisk and cheery, though rather grayer, than when we saw her last, and just now so absorbed in Meg's affairs that the hospitals and homes, still full of wounded "boys" and soldiers' widows, decidedly miss the motherly missionary's visits.

      John Brooke did his duty manfully for a year, got wounded, was sent home, and not allowed to return. He received