"Sure, they might eat it!" she answered, with a dark frown.
"Norah, what if you were to put a blue ribbon about its neck?" I suggested.
She went into fits of laughter and hugged me.
"To think that you've niver even seen a pig!" she cried. "To think of it dressed up! The innocent!"
It was on that same night that with a great parade of secrecy she showed me something hidden in the knife tray. It was a doll's hat made of blue velvet, and trimmed with lovely white feathers, such as came out of the pillows when Norah thumped them in the morning. Right in front there was a big brass pin that shone like gold. Norah watched me while I examined the hat, breathlessly. She seemed much pleased with my admiration, and turned it around and around on one of her big fingers that I might decide on the prettiest side, which was, of course, the one with the brass pin.
"But whom is it for, Norah?" I asked.
"It's for a small frind of mine," she explained, with an air of deep mystery.
It was very strange. The dolls and the picture-book, even the hat, were all for somebody's little friend, never for me.
"I wonder what I'll get?" I said, weakly.