"But you have novels to read."
She laughed, and by the time father returned we were quite chatty. After dinner I asked him to go to some shops with me. He took me to a jeweler's, and without consulting me bought an immense mosaic brooch, with a ruined castle on it, and a pretty ring with a gold stone.
"Is there anything more?" he asked, "you would like?"
"Yes, I want a pink calico dress."
"Why?"
"Because the girls at Miss Black's wear pink calico."
"Why not get a pink silk?"
"I must have a pink French calico, with a three-cornered white cloud on it; it is the fashion."
"The fashion!" he echoed with contempt. But the dress was bought, and we went back to Barmouth.
When I appeared in school with my new brooch and ring the girls crowded round me.