Linda swiftly doubled the two ends of the braids and fastened them.
She looked at Mrs. Porter again as the fluffy braids hung down the slender back, and again Mrs. Porter nodded.
"Miss Barry wants 'em tight," declared the child.
"Miss Barry will be satisfied with this," rejoined Linda. Then she proceeded to cross the braids and wind them around the small head, tucking the ends out of sight with hair pins. This loosened the hair at the temples and the round eyes took in the fact that the arrangement was becoming even to freckles; but the breath-taking moment was to come.
Linda opened a box on her dresser and revealed a fresh pink and a blue ribbon. She took out the pink one and soon a generous bow surmounted those braids, and Blanche Aurora gasped with pleasure. Her white, low-necked, short-sleeved reflection with the new coiffure held her happy gaze, and when Mrs. Porter brought the pink dress and slipped it on and buttoned it up, the red beneath the freckles was very deep, and the modern Cinderella was speechless.
At last she turned to Linda and threw her slender arms around her.
"I can't say nothin'," she gulped.
Linda pushed her gently back and took hold of the hard hands and her eyes were soft with an inner flame as they looked down into the glistening ones.
"I can say something, Blanche Aurora," she answered kindly. "I can say that you look like a wild rose. Do you understand?"
She put her arm around the happy girl and led her to the small table where stood her father's picture, and blooming before it, the child's offering. "Like a wild rose, Blanche Aurora," she repeated slowly.