I went out of doors into the garden
and there, half an hour later, Alice
joined me. She was a pretty, graceful
girl of sixteen. Hie came walking
slowly toward me with a tery woe-be-gone
countenance. The sergo dress wa?
badly made and too small for her; the
material was coarse and thick; It was
a last winter's frock and last winter
Alice had worn her skirts short, and
lately .she had tasted the dignity of
skirts that reached her ankles.
"Look at me, Mab," she cried, the
tears in her eyes, her toice indignant,
yet pitiful, "Mab, tell me truthfully, do
1 look absuid?''
"The dress is hideous, but you look
pretty In spite of it," aid 1 lovingly.
"Dear old .Mali! Oh. Mab. I wish the
taoles could be turned for a bit and wn
could be tho tyrants. I should like to
dress papa in a jacket and an
Eum collar, and make him wear his hair
long in ringlets."
Ve laughed. Alice linked hrr hands
around my arm. and we strolled slowly
together dow 11 the garden paths between
the trim beds with their low,
I .lunged to ask a
question; a simple question enough, but
it was only with an eflort, after much
deliberation, that 1 asked it.
