Such lovely toys and playthings as Lili had!
I had never even dreamed of anything like them. I shall never forget the
innumerable figures cut from fashion plates which we used for paper dolls!
We each had a large family of them, with all their kindred and relatives,
each one fitted with a name, a character and a story of its own. We
almost, nay quite, lived in their imaginary lives, and we shared their
joys and sorrows as if they had been real.
"I always returned home laden with gifts, and I was scarcely settled there,
when new requests came that I would repeat the visit. When we were a
little older we had lessons together, both from a regular teacher and
from my father, and when we began to read together, the heroes and
heroines of our books were as real to us as our dolls had been, and we
lived over their lives and histories again and again. What life and energy
Lili had; what freshness and vivacity; my charming Lili, with her flowing
brown curls and her laughing eyes!
"So the years passed, and no thought of coming sorrow and separation
crossed our young lives, until one day, when we were nearly twelve years
old, my father told me--I remember the very spot in the garden where we
were standing at that moment--that Mr.
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