the
half was--well, I was not quite sure what it was at first, though I
could see that it was pretty. It was pale green and there were two
parts of it. The bigger of the two (it was not very big) was of soft
silk, and extremely fluffy. It had a low-necked and short-sleeved
bodice, and attached to that was a skirt--or something that would have
been a skirt if it had had more time to grow. The second part was silk,
too, but more difficult to describe. Perhaps I'd do best to say that it
was like long stockings, only it was in one piece and evidently meant
to fasten round the waist.

"There's also a pair of sandals and a really sweet cap, deah," Sally
explained.

"Is it a fancy dress for a little girl?" I asked puzzled.

"For a little girl about your size. Why, you funny child, it's your
_bathing_ dress. I had to get it and all the other things ready made,
for there wasn't time for anything more than having them altered to
your measurement if they were to be ready for your birthday."

"Oh, Sally, are they _all_ for me?"

"Well, they're for nobody else. It's _your_ birthday."

Of course I told her she was an angel, and so she was, quite an
exceptional kind of an angel; and I kissed her, and was saying a great
many things, when she stopped me. "So glad you like them, deah. But now
we must be moving if we're to have our bath this morning. Louise can't
leave Katherine, but we'll have one of the other maids come with our
things. It's getting late."

I felt frightfully. "It _is_ late, isn't it?" said I, hopefully,
looking at my watch. "Perhaps it's too late to go this morning, after
all."

"Not a bit of it," said Sally. "Come along."

"I'm not sure but that I'd better stop in, if Mr. Parker thinks Mrs.
Stuyvesant-Knox would want me to," I floundered on.

"She won't mind--not much, anyway, if we don't take you to the Casino
without her," Sally tried to reassure me. But her eyes had begun to
twinkle.

"Don't you think she might? There are a lot of letters I ought----"

"Now child, out with it. Don't you like the bathing dress?"

"Oh, I _admire_ it immensely," I stammered. "It's like a--a picture.
But--I can't see myself wearing it. That is, I can't bear to think of
anyone else seeing me wear it."

Sally went off into a fit of musical Southern laughter. "You poor baby.
I forgot the shock it might be to you, if you're accustomed only to
English bathing clothes. They certainly are the _limit_! Have you never
been to