t's--I think the skirt would be long
enough--and a Robin Hood jerkin and tall leather boots. I believe you
could wear them. Oh dear! you ought to try all the things on. I wish I
could show them to you. They're kept in an oak chest on the landing."

"I should like to see them," said Dorothy pensively.

"Then look here! Get out with me at Latchworth and come to our house.
Mother has gone to Bardsley this afternoon and won't be home till seven,
so I shall be quite alone. You'd have heaps of time to come, and catch
the next train on to Hurford."

It was a most tempting proposal. Dorothy wanted immensely to go. She
knew she was expected to come straight home from school every day, and
not to accept any invitations without permission, but she dismissed that
remembrance as inconvenient.

"Auntie'll only think I've missed the train. It will be all right if I
catch the next," she reasoned. "One must have a little fun sometimes,
and I'm getting too old to have to ask leave about everything. All
right, I'll come," she added aloud; "I'd just love to see those
costumes."

It was delightful to get out of the train with Alison and walk to the
house on the hill which she had so often admired from the carriage
window. Dorothy was in wild spirits, and made jokes till Alison almost
choked.

"It makes me cough to laugh so much," she protested. "Do be sensible,
Dorothy! Here we are. Leave your books and your umbrella in the porch.
We'll go straight upstairs."

Dorothy could not help looking round with interest as her friend led her
up the staircase. At every step her feet sank into the soft carpet.
Through an open door she could catch a glimpse of a beautiful
drawing-room, and beyond was a conservatory full of flowers. On the
landing, which surrounded the hall like a gallery, were marble statues,
pictures, and inlaid cabinets; and the floor was spread with Turkey
rugs. From the window she could see a tennis lawn and a vinery. After
the modest proportions of Holly Cottage, it all seemed so spacious and
handsome that Dorothy sighed.

"What a lovely house to live in!" she thought. "Alison is lucky. She's
no foundling. I wish I had half her things. I wonder why some girls have
so much more than others?"

Quite unconscious of the storm of envy that she had roused, Alison
walked on. She was so accustomed to her surroundings that it never
struck her how they might appear to anyone else, and her sole thought
was of the tableaux.

"Her