"Flossie and her Uncle Harry were on the lawn, and as she rode past, he said with a sigh:
"'Arabella, Arabella,
If I had my new umbrella,'
and I was wild to know the rest of it, but his wife, who was standing near him, said:
"'Hush, Harry, really you mustn't,' and he only laughed, and said:
"'Oh, mustn't I? Why, when I saw Arabella and her Aunt Matilda, I really felt as if I must!'"
"Let's ask him what the rest of the verse is," said Dorothy.
"I'm wild to hear it," Nancy said, "because the very way he looked made me think that the other lines, whatever they were, would be funny."
She stooped to gather more of the little blossoms to add to Dorothy's bouquet, and then commenced to make a bouquet of her own.
"Arabella will be coming over to see you," she said, a moment later, "and I wonder if it is naughty to say, 'I wish she wouldn't?' Do you think it is?"
"I don't know," said Dorothy, "but I do wish it. I wouldn't, only she is so hard to please. Mamma wishes us to be nice to every one, but, Nancy, you do know that when we try the hardest to please Arabella, we don't please her at all."