ing-room
mantelpiece, and offered to give me a silver one instead." Bridgie
smiled and shook her head with an expression which showed that the price
of the green plush frame was above rubies. "No, indeed! It's not
likely I will give up Pixie's present."

"She is not very like any of you!" Sylvia said lamely. She wanted to
be pleasant and appreciative, but could not think what on earth to say
next. "It must be--er--very nice to have a little sister. She is in
Paris, you say. Will she be away long?"

"She is coming home for good in January. Geoffrey and Esmeralda are
going over to bring her back, and she will go on with finishing lessons
at home. We can't do without each other any longer. I feel quite sore
with wanting her sometimes, and she is home-sick too. I had a letter
from her this morning. Would you like me to read it to you to show you
what she is like?"

"Please do!" said Sylvia politely, but in reality she was rather bored
by the prospect.

It was one of Aunt Margaret's peculiarities that she insisted upon
reading aloud the letters which she received from old-lady friends, and
the incredible dulness of the epistles made them a trial to the patience
of her lively young niece. She stifled a yawn as Bridgie straightened
the sheets of foreign note-paper, and cleared her throat with
prospective enjoyment.

"`Dearest, Darling People, especially Bridgie,--I was gladder than
ever to get your letters this week, because it's been raining and
dull, and the mud looked so home-like that it depressed my spirits.
Therese has gone out for the day, so Pere and I are alone. He wears
white socks and a velvet jacket, and sleeps all the time. He told me
one day that he used to be very active when he was young, and that was
why he liked to rest now. "All the week I do nozzing, and on Sundays
I repose me!" I teach him English, but he doesn't like to talk it
much, because it's so difficult to be clever in a foreign language.

"`My dear, I never suffered more than when I first came here, and
Therese telling everyone how amusing I was, and myself sitting as dumb
as a mummy! I can talk quite beautifully now, and wriggle about like
a native. I'll teach you how to shrug your shoulders, and you hold up
your dress quite differently in France, and it's fashionable to be
fat. Last night Therese let me have two girls for _souper_. They are
called Marie and Julie, and wear plaid dresses