FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159  
160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   >>   >|  
at vinegar does it." "Vinegar?" "I have heard tell, but I have never tried it. You drink it three times a day, a wine-glass at a time. It's horrid nasty stuff, but if you want to change your complexion you must put up with some sort of inconvenience." "Suppose, Betty, you and me both drink it. Your nose might get white, and I might go to the seaside." "No, miss, I'm not tempted to interfere with nature. I've got good 'ealth, and I'll keep it without no vinegar." "But will you give me some? You shall have the pin-cushion and the tidy if you do." "'Arriet would like that tidy," contemplated Betty, looking with round eyes at the hideous ornament. "You sneak round to the boot-house, and I'll have it ready for you," she said. "Come at eleven, come again at half-past three, and come at seven in the evening." This was arranged, and Pen, faithfully to the minute, did make her appearance in the boot-house. She drank off her first glass of vinegar with a wry face; but after it was swallowed she began to feel intensely good and pleased with herself. "Will it pale me in an hour?" was her thought. She ran upstairs, found a tiny square of looking-glass, concealed it in her pocket, and came down again. During the remainder of the day she might have been observed at intervals sneaking away by herself, and had any one followed her, that person would have seen her taking the looking-glass from her pocket and carefully examining her cheeks. Alas! the vinegar had only produced a slight feeling of discomfort; it had not taken any of the bloom out of the firm, fat cheeks. "It's horrid, and it's not doing it," thought the child. "I wish I hadn't gived her that tidy and that pin-cushion. But I will go on somehow till the color is out. They will send for me when they hear that I'm bad. Perhaps I'll look bad to-night." But Pen's "perhapses" were knocked on the head, for Miss Tredgold made a sudden and most startling announcement. "Why wait for the morning?" she exclaimed. "We are all packed and ready. We can easily get to Easterhaze by a late train to-night." Accordingly, by a late train that evening Miss Tredgold, Verena, and Pauline departed. They drove to Lyndhurst Road, and presently found themselves in a first-class carriage being carried rapidly away. "I am glad I thought of it," said Miss Tredgold, turning to the two girls. "It is true we shall arrive late, but Miss Pinchin will have things ready, as s
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159  
160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
vinegar
 

Tredgold

 

thought

 
pocket
 

cheeks

 

evening

 

cushion

 

horrid

 

turning

 

taking


carefully

 
arrive
 

Pinchin

 
things
 
examining
 

feeling

 

discomfort

 

slight

 

produced

 

Easterhaze


startling

 

announcement

 

sudden

 

Verena

 

Accordingly

 
person
 

easily

 

morning

 

exclaimed

 

packed


Pauline

 

Perhaps

 
carriage
 

carried

 

rapidly

 

Lyndhurst

 

departed

 

knocked

 

perhapses

 

presently


tempted
 
interfere
 

nature

 

seaside

 

Arriet

 
contemplated
 

Suppose

 
Vinegar
 
inconvenience
 

complexion