“But the color of the doll’s dress has become faded,” said the lady. “She must have a new one before I take her.”
“That can easily be arranged in a day,” said the owner of the shop.
“Very well,” answered the lady, “then I will buy her. You need not send her. I will bring my little friend with me to-morrow afternoon when we shall be passing your shop. She will like to carry her new doll through the streets.”
Next morning when Mademoiselle Cerise was brought back to the shop after having been absent since the previous afternoon, the Sailor-Lad was struck by something very familiar about the appearance of her new blue muslin dress. At first he could not think why. Then he understood; the muslin was—so it seemed to him—of exactly the same pattern and exactly the same color as Belinda’s dress.
As he realized this a sudden thought struck him, upon which he acted without delay.
Coming up to Belinda softly, who was sitting with her eyes closed, he exclaimed loudly and suddenly in her ear: “Belinda, Belinda! Mademoiselle Cerise has on a dress precisely like yours!”
“No!” she said, and opened her eyes in a moment. She gazed around anxiously for Mademoiselle Cerise, but the Sailor-Boy placed himself right before her and looked at her as adoringly as he knew how.
“Oh, Belinda,” he said, “how I love you!”