“Well, rather,” replied Mr. Kemp.
“And could I wear this?” Elizabeth held up a blond wig, “and a blue dress?”
Mr. Kemp laughed. Kathie had just been telling him of Elizabeth’s “holy mortification,” to his great entertainment. “Blue it shall be,” he declared. “I will rig you up as a Dresden shepherdess, if I can get hold of a proper hat, and you shall be some other lovely female, a portrait, maybe, by Reynolds or Gainsborough. Oh, we’ll fix you out all right, but if I let you wear the wig you must make a bargain that I have my way in making a Titian of you. I’ll tell you what, Elfie, I will be Titian painting and you shall be the picture itself.”
They had a good laugh over this and, as it turned out, the tableau was nearly spoiled because Elizabeth could not keep her face straight with a paint brush so very near the corner of her mouth, and Mr. Titian looking at her so fixedly with such a quizzical expression.
Everyone pronounced the pictures a great success, but Elizabeth’s crowning joy was when she actually wore Miss Jewett’s hat trimmed with corn-flowers and donned a blue dress to match it; yet, strange to say, everyone declared that she was much more lovely in the Titian picture, although it would be some years before she would grow into an appreciation of this herself. After this she wore the blond wig and the trailing blue frock many times, but never with such perfect satisfaction as that first time.
CHAPTER XVI
The Gray House Opens
THE tableaux were given on Easter Monday and a few days later Elizabeth was told that her cousins were coming back to the gray house. She hurried off to tell Betsy, who once was jealous of Ruth but was now her very good friend. “I wonder who Ruth will have for her first best,” remarked Betsy. “She used to have Bess, you know, but since Bess has become so thick with Corinne perhaps she won’t.”
“Bess doesn’t go with Corinne near so much as she did,” Elizabeth assured her, “besides, Corinne will be going back home soon.”
“And I hope she’ll stay there,” returned Betsy fervently.
“Well, anyhow,” said Elizabeth, “we will not let Ruth think we don’t want her with us, will we, Betsy?”