The necessity of living without their father's love and counsel weighed heavily on their spirits; but concerning his money they took no thought.

Hitherto they had lived as the birds do, and it did not occur to them that it could ever be otherwise.

The garden and the flowery parlor, which their mother had created and their father had so dearly loved, seemed almost as much a portion of themselves as their own persons.

It had been hard to think of leaving them, even for the attractions of Paris; and now _that_ dream was over, it seemed a necessity of their existence to live on in the atmosphere of beauty to which they had always been accustomed.

But now that the sunshine of love had vanished from it, they felt lonely and unprotected there.