“Yes. Uncle Dan’l would rather have her know than anybody else. He sets such store by her good opinion. But oh, _do_ make it plain it mustn’t be talked about outside, so’s it’ll get back to Father Potter.”
The next instant Georgina’s arms were around her in a silent but joyful squeeze, and she ran upstairs to write to Barby before the sun should go down or Tippy get back from the Bazaar.
Chapter XXIV
A Contrast in Fathers
Georgina was having a beautiful day. It was the first time she had ever taken part in a Bazaar, and so important was the rôle assigned her that she was in a booth all by herself. Moreover, the little mahogany chair in which she sat was on a high platform inside the booth, so that all might behold her. Dressed in a quaint old costume borrowed from the chests in the Figurehead House, she represented “A Little Girl of Long Ago.”
On a table beside her stood other borrowed treasures from the Figurehead House--a doll bedstead made by an old sea captain on one of his voyages. Each of its high posts was tipped with a white point, carved from the bone of a whale. Wonderful little patchwork quilts, a feather bed and tiny pillows made especially for the bed, were objects of interest to everyone who crowded around the booth. So were the toys and dishes brought home from other long cruises by the same old sea captain, who evidently was an indulgent father and thought often of the little daughter left behind in the home port. A row of dolls dressed in fashions half a century old were also on exhibition.
With unfailing politeness Georgina explained to the curious summer people who thronged around her, that they all belonged in the house where the figurehead of Hope sat on the portico roof, and were not for sale at any price.
Until to-day Georgina had been unconscious that she possessed any unusual personal charms, except her curls. Her attention had been called to them from the time she was old enough to understand remarks people made about them as she passed along the street. Their beauty would have been a great pleasure to her if Tippy had not impressed upon her the fact that looking in the mirror makes one vain, and it’s wicked to be vain. One way in which Tippy guarded her against the sin of vanity was to mention some of her bad points, such as her mouth being a trifle too large, or her nose not quite so shapely as her mother’s, each time anyone unwisely called attention to her “glorious hair.”
Another way was to repeat a poem from a book called “Songs for the Little Ones at Home,” the same book which had furnished the “Landing of the Pilgrims” and “Try, Try Again.” It began: