“Might,” conceded Linda. “I am taller than she is, but I could wear her waists if I wanted to, and she always alters her skirts herself to save the fees. Glory be! This is my dress, and there’s a petticoat and stockings to match it. Why, the nice old thing! I suggested hard enough, but in my heart I hardly thought she would do it. Oh, dear, now if I only had some shoes, and a hat.”
Linda was standing holding the jacket in one hand, the stockings in the other, her face flaming. Katy drew herself to full height. She reached over and picked the things from Linda’s fingers.
“If ye know that is your dress, lambie,” she said authoritatively, “ye go right out and get into that car and run to town and buy ye a pair of shoes.”
“But I have no credit anywhere and I have no money, yet,” said Linda.
“Well, I have,” said Katy, “and this time ye’re going to stop your stubbornness and take enough to get ye what you need. Ye go to the best store in Los Angeles and come back here with a pair of shoes that just match those stockings, and ye go fast, before the stores close. If ye’ve got to speed a little, do it in the country and do it judacious.”
“Katy, you’re arriving!” cried Linda. “‘Judicious speeding’ is one thing I learned better than any other lesson about driving a motor car. Three fourths of the driving Father and I did we were speeding judiciously.”
Katy held the skirt to Linda’s waist.
“Well, maybe it’s a little shorter than any you have been wearing, but it ain’t as short as Eileen and all the rest of the girls your age have them, so that’s all right, honey. Slip on your coat.”
Katy’s fingers were shaking as she lifted the jacket and Linda slipped into it.
“Oh, Lord,” she groaned, “ye can’t be wearing that! The sleeves don’t come much below your elbows.”