Dotty looked quite ashamed.
"This is what we call 'putting on airs.' Adolphus was at first rather quiet and unpretending. Didn't you think he might be a little stupid? And didn't you wish to give him the idea that you yourself were something of a fine lady?"
How very strange it was to Dotty that her father could read the secret thoughts which she herself could hardly have told! She felt supremely wretched, and crept into his bosom to hide her blushing face.
"I didn't say Adolphus did right to tease you," said Mr. Parlin, gently.
He thought the little girl's lesson had been quite severe enough; for, after all, she had done nothing very wrong: she had only been a little foolish.
"Upon my word, chincapin," said he, "we haven't opened that basket yet! What do you say to a lunch, with the Boston Journal for a table-cloth? And here comes a boy with some apples."
In two minutes Dotty had buried her chagrin in a sandwich.
And all the while the cars were racketing along towards Boston.