"Thank you, dear; I don't need any help, for our teacher is from Paris, and of course he speaks better French than your uncle." Then she added, with a gesture of her head that set the little bells on her ears to tingling: "How do you like my new ear-rings? Papa gave them to me last week, and every one says they are lovely."
Rose came down from her high horse with a rapidity that was comical, for Annabel had the upper hand now. Rose adored pretty things, longed to wear them, and the desire of her girlish soul was to have her ears bored, only Dr. Alec thought it foolish, so she never had done it. She would gladly have given all the French she could jabber for a pair of golden bells with pearl-tipped tongues, like those Annabel wore; and, clasping her hands, she answered, in a tone that went to the hearer's heart,—
"They are too sweet for any thing! If uncle would only let me wear some, I should be perfectly happy."
"I wouldn't mind what he says. Papa laughed at me at first, but he likes them now, and says I shall have diamond solitaires when I am eighteen," said Annabel, quite satisfied with her shot.
"I've got a pair now that were mamma's, and a beautiful little pair of pearl and turquoise ones, that I am dying to wear," sighed Rose.
"Then do it. I'll pierce your ears, and you must wear a bit of silk in them till they are well; your curls will hide them nicely; then, some day, slip in your smallest ear-rings, and see if your uncle don't like them."
"I asked him if it wouldn't do my eyes good once when they were red, and he only laughed. People do cure weak eyes that way, don't they?"
"Yes, indeed, and yours are sort of red. Let me see. Yes, I really think you ought to do it before they get worse," said Annabel, peering into the large clear eye offered for inspection.
"Does it hurt much?" asked Rose, wavering.
"Oh dear, no! just a prick and a pull, and it's all over. I've done lots of ears, and know just how. Come, push up your hair and get a big needle."