"Why, the 'old woman' who lived in a shoe, to be sure. Honor and I have talked it all over, and if we dress you up in one of nurse's gowns, with an apron and cap, you will look lovely!"
"Upon my word, I feel highly complimented. I hope I shall not be considered inquisitive if I ask whether this old woman was considered handsome or not? By the by," adds the colonel with a crestfallen look, and stroking his moustache, "how shall I dispose of this commodity? You will never be so despotic as to command me to cut it off, will you?"
Both the girls cry simultaneously "Oh, no, of course not!" and Hugh adds reassuringly, "Oh, that's nothing; you can flatten it down easily with a little cosmetic, and it won't show at all if you powder your face after."
"Very well, then. I will undertake to promise anything in that line if one of you girls will consent to be in my custody with a view to receiving the first whipping. Really," adds the colonel laughing, "I don't think the picture will be half bad if there are plenty of children forthcoming and the shoe is well managed. What are your plans concerning it, Hugh?" and the two proceed to enter into a deep discussion relative to the height, depth, and width thereof, when suddenly Honor and Doris are electrified by the sight of Molly entering the room, arrayed in a white frock matching that which Honor wears. Molly has a roll of music under her arm, and with the greatest self-possession in the world she marches up to the grand piano and lays it down. She then stands as if awaiting further orders, with flushed face, bright sparkling eyes, and hair tumbling over her forehead and ears and curling down upon her neck in rather wild but pretty confusion.
"Good gracious!" exclaims Doris aside to Honor, "what can it mean?"
"It is very plain to me what it means," replied Honor. "Didn't you see the music she brought in with her? That music is yours, my dear,—your songs; and mother has sent for Molly to play the accompaniments. So now you can't escape."
"Well, I really call that mean of mother!" exclaims Doris. "Molly, why weren't you in bed and asleep, you wretched child, like any other reasonable being? then you couldn't have come down, you know."
"Mother sent me a message not long ago," replies Molly promptly, "to say I was to get dressed and to look out some of your nicest songs, and come down when I was sent for. So of course I was arrayed in my white frock, with more speed than elegance, I'm afraid, for my sash is all awry, and I can't reach round to do it for myself; and," she adds, lowering her voice mysteriously, "I have actually come down in odd shoes. Look!" holding out first one foot and then the other. "One rosette is nearly twice as large as the other, and I verily believe one shoe is kid and the other patent leather! It is—look! Then it is your shoe I caught up, Honor, and that accounts for it pinching so horribly; why will you persist in having such small feet? Well, I must take care not to show both feet at once, and then it will be all right—they're both nice shoes of their kind."
"Why didn't you go back and change them?" inquires Doris turning over the songs.
"I never knew they were odd until I was on the landing outside the door, and Rankin, as soon as he saw me, threw the door wide open, so I couldn't do anything but walk in and make the best of it."