“Not at all!” Mr. Baron glanced at her with real friendliness. It had not occurred to him that her dress was fantastic. What he had noticed was that her face was positively radiant, and that she spoke as he imagined a duchess might have done.
“You might like to look at the colored supplement,” he added, fishing around through the various sections of the paper at his feet.
“I thank you, I’m sure; but isn’t it rather silly?” She added deferentially: “Is there a theatrical page?”
Mr. Baron coughed slightly, as he always did when he was disconcerted. “There is, I believe,” he said. He glanced over his shoulder toward a closed door. “I’m not sure Mrs. Baron would approve of your looking at the theatrical department on Sunday,” he added.
“Really! And you don’t think she’d see any harm in looking at the comic pictures?”
Mr. Baron removed his glasses and wiped them carefully. “She would probably regard the comic pictures as the lesser of two evils,” he said.
“Well, I never did like to be a piker. If I’m going into a thing, I like to go in strong.” She made this statement pleasantly.
A most extraordinary ancient man stood there watching her.
Mr. Baron put his glasses on somewhat hurriedly and looked hard at the child. He perceived that she was looking at him frankly and with a slight constriction at her throat, as was always the case when she felt she must hold her ground against attack.