Nobody noticed when she crept back, the hilarity now being so great below stairs.
"I certainly am losing ground," she muttered, "every little thing affects me so. I'll step into Bartram's office next time I go down town and set that little matter straight, since I've made up my mind to do it. It never would do to let him come to the house. Horatio would suspect something to see my lawyer here, and the whole household imagine I was going to die right off. No, no; I must go there, that's clear. Then if it's attended to, I'll live all the longer, with nothing on my mind."
Phronsie, meanwhile, was going around from room to room in a pleased way, and touching different objects gently "Everything's new, isn't it, Polly," she said at last, "when you stay upstairs? Oh! there's my kittens in the basket," pointing to a bisque vase on the table.
"Yes," said Polly; "Mamsie brought it in here. And we've some flowers; Alexia sent them over. They're out in the back hall; we saved them for you to put in yourself."
"Oh!" exclaimed Phronsie, "that's so good in you, Polly."
"Don't stop now," cried Dick in disgust. "Faugh! you can fix flowers any time. Come out into the dining-room—and you'll see something you'll like."
Phronsie smothered a sigh, and turned slowly away from the kittens waiting in their basket for Alexia's flowers. "Come on!" shouted Dick, seizing her hand. "You never can guess what it is, in all this world."
"Is it a new dog?" asked Phronsie fearfully, whose memory of Dick's latest purchase was not altogether happy.
"No," said Dick, pulling her on, "better than that."
"Don't hurry her so," said Polly. "What have you got, Dick?"