"Yes," said Rosie; "you are to stand before the mirror brushing it diligently while eating the apple. And you will try it too, won't you, Eva?"
"Well, yes," returned Evelyn, "just for fun; and if anybody but Max comes to me I shall be sure it is not a truthful augury."
"Max is a fine fellow and has always been one of my favorites," said Rosie, "but there are others in the world that might do just as well, in case you and Max should have a falling out. Or you may live long enough to marry several times."
Evelyn laughed at that, saying she was quite sure once would be enough for her.
"I know you girls did not come prepared to stay all night," said Rosie, "so I have laid out a night-dress and dressing-gown for each of you. Get into them, and you will look nice and pretty enough for an interview with your future husbands."
They thanked her, and, examining the garments which she took from a wardrobe in Eva's room, pronounced them really pretty enough to wear to the breakfast table.
They made haste with their toilets, and in a few minutes each was standing before a mirror, eating an apple and brushing out her hair. Then Rosie left them with a promise to be back again before very long to learn of their success. She artfully left ajar both doors leading into the hall. They opened noiselessly, and presently each had admitted a young man, who, wearing slippers, moved with noiseless tread, and as the girls looked over their left shoulders Eva caught sight of Harold standing a few feet in her rear, gazing steadily at her, a kindly smile upon his features; while at the same moment Lucilla perceived Herbert at a similar distance from her, gazing intently and admiringly upon her.
"Oh, Uncle Herbert," she laughed, "this cannot be a true sign, for I know well enough that neither of us has any loverlike feeling toward the other."
Almost before she finished her sentence he had vanished, and she heard Evelyn saying in mirthful tones, "Ah, Uncle Harold, this is the no luck at all—prophesied by that yellow ear of corn; for, as you know, I am already pledged to another."
At that Harold sighed deeply and withdrew.