erness if it had not been
for the thought that your dear face would be missing in the
picture. Do not rashly misjudge me by jumping to the conclusion
that I parted with joy from the estimable Deans of whom I am which.
Bitterly did I regret leaving my sorrowing parents. It was not lack
of filial devotion to them that made me yearn for Overton. A
terrible shadow, or rather several shadows, had hovered over
hapless Deanery for a week before I packed my belongings and fled.
Our humble home had been turned over to an aggregation of ruthless
individuals who paint houses for a living. Darkest Deanery was once
a timid shade of brown that grew even more retiring with years. Now
it is a dazzling white, with still more dazzling gray trimmings. I
can never forget that harmonious combination of gray and white, as
I have annexed copious samples of it to most of my meager wardrobe.

"If only I had had the forethought to design a simple burlap
costume with bag-like lines, and putting away false pride, worn it
on all occasions during that last sad week at home, I should not
now be spending my leisure hours experimenting to discover the most
efficacious paint eradicator on the market. Every time I hopefully
remove a prized garment from my trunk, I am confronted by the
unhappy recollection that darkest Deanery has been freshly painted.
It's positively maddening!

"Knowing my fatal leaning toward the absent-minded, you can put two
and two together. They don't make four. They make 'paint.' Oh, the
supreme tragedy of that week! How well I remember the afternoon
when I sat down confidingly on the freshly-furbished porch rail in
my best pongee dress. I was about to go to a luncheon. I went, but
was late. There was a reason. By the time the front porch became a
sticky, glistening wonder, I thoughtfully dropped my nice seal
handbag in the middle of it. The irate painter remonstrated. Not
because I had ruined my cherished possession, but because of the
horrifying blank left where paint had lately flaunted itself. By
the time it had dawned upon me that the back entrance to the house
was the entrance for me, it had also become a trap for the unwary.
There were frequent other accidental collisions with the aforesaid
paint, all equally disastrous to poor me. Some of them were kn