“Certainly not,” said Dr. O’Grady. “White stockings would be entirely out of place. If we’re dressing you as an Irish colleen, Mary Ellen, we’ll do it properly. Go and tell Mrs. Gregg that your stockings are to be green, bright green. Did you ever hear such a silly question?” he added turning to the other members of the committee. “Who ever saw an Irish colleen in white stockings?”
“While you’re at it, O’Grady,” said the Major, “you’d better settle the colour of her garters.”
Mary Ellen, grinning broadly, withdrew her head and shut the door.
“What’s that about green stockings for Mary Ellen?” said Father McCormack.
“Oh, it’s all right,” said Dr. O’Grady. “The stockings will scarcely show at all. Her dress will be right down to her ankles, longer by far than the ones she usually wears. I needn’t tell you, Father McCormack, that I wouldn’t consent to dressing the girl in any way that wasn’t strictly proper. You mustn’t think——”
“I wasn’t thinking anything of the sort,” said Father McCormack.
“You very well might be,” said Dr. O’Grady, “Anyone would think we intended her to appear in a ballet skirt after that remark of the Major’s about her garters.”
“All I was thinking,” said Father McCormack, “was that if you dressed the girl up in that style she’ll never be contented again with ordinary clothes.”
“I’d be opposed, so I would,” said Gallagher, “to anything that wouldn’t be respectable in the case of Mary Ellen. Her mother was a cousin of my own, and I’ve a feeling for the girl. So if you or any other one, Doctor, is planning contrivances——”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Thady,” said Dr. O’Grady.