"Hollis didn't say for me to be such a long baby," sniffled Fly, trying in vain to clear her feet from the trailing skirt.
"This is your slip, dear. You're only a baby—musn't try to walk."
"Then my papa must carry me down stairs," said Fly, entering into the spirit of the play. "You tell him so—I can't tell him, for I can't talk. Argoo-goo. My teeth haven't camed."
"If you please, Master Clifford," said Nathaniel, appearing at the head of the stairs. Then he stopped short with surprise, hardly knowing the children in their strange attire; but being too dignified to laugh aloud, added, with a grim smile,—
"The woman that brought Miss Fly home the other day is down in the dining-room, and says,'Can she see one of the family?'"
"A little girl with her, Nat?"
"Yes, sir; the blind girl is with her."
"And the freckled doggie!" asked "the long baby," suddenly raising her head from her father's shoulder. "I meant to told 'em to bringed that doggie."
"Let's all go down and see," said Mother Hubbard.
When they entered the dining-room, Mrs. Brooks started up in dismay. She had left her sick husband, and come a long distance through the storm, only to find Mrs. Allen gone, and a parcel of children decked out like circus-riders. It seemed like a cruel mockery.