Spring Shall Plant Author:Beatrice Harraden General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1921 Original Publisher: George H. Doran Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can... more » select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III Patuffa's departure occasioned immense though uneasy relief in the breasts of the Tribunal, Nurse and the subject races in the nursery. They missed her dominating personality, and yet were conscious that a change for the better had taken place in the atmosphere of the home, and also in the chances now opened to her for the finer formation of her character. The subject races in the nursery were the first to recover from the shock of suddenly acquired freedom. They raised their heads, developed characteristics of their own, looted the big dolls' house, destroyed some of the choicer playthings, and conducted all their games in their own fashion, which, of course, according to Patuffa, had been nonsensical. They enjoyed themselves immoderately without knowing the reason. Miss Walters, with tears in her eyes, was obliged to own that Patuffa's absence was an unmitigated blessing to the children. "It gives them an opportunity," she said, smiling vaguely. It was not clear what she meant by opportunity. Opportunity for fun, high spirits, naughtiness, greediness, quarrelsomeness, goodness -- what? Probably all these manifestations, with everything else added to them that makes for expression of character. The change was especially noticeable in little Susie of the soft fair curls and dark eyelashes. Released from serfdom, she at once became a personality, not turbulent like Patuffa when thwarted, but equally insistent and with a gracious little charm of her own which won her all she wanted. She was nervous, excitable, and rather delicate; but her health began t...« less