"How are you going to do it?"
"Well, I shall tell Mamma first that it is impossible for her to have that new dress just now. And when she has got over it a bit, I shall tell her I want to see some of her pretty dresses that are put away in the big wardrobe, and I shall be sure to find one that can be altered to the present fashion. Why shouldn't a dressmaker come here to do it? It would be great fun, Annie, and I believe it would please Mamma to superintend the alterations. Don't you think my plan would be worth a trial now?"
"If you can get Mamma to agree to it, I dare say it would, but I cannot face the trouble of bringing her to think so, and so I shall leave the matter entirely to you. I haven't written to order the new dress, and I will wait and see how you get on to-morrow, but I cannot do more than that, and if the worry and upset should make Mamma ill, why, you must take the consequences."
"All right! I don't think we shall want the doctor," said Molly, "I will manage the Mater."
And the girl went off to bed full of her plan for helping her brother, and getting a new dress out of an old one.
[CHAPTER V]
AN INVITATION
"A LETTER for me!" exclaimed Arthur, as he took his seat at the breakfast-table next morning and saw the letter beside his plate.
But Molly came in the next minute, before the letter could be opened. "Arthur, I have thought of a plan to get over the difficulty about Mamma's new dressing-gown," she said.
"All right! Get over the difficulty if you can, and if she won't agree, tell her what Mr. Andrews says about things if you like. But if she won't be persuaded to help with us, why, I may as well give up trying, and let things drift as they have done before."