bare backs! I couldn’t think of you, Sherrill, in one of those abominable, ugly modern backs!”
“Oh, I’m so glad you still feel that way, Harriet,” said Sherrill’s mother, giving her old friend an adoring glance. “I was so afraid that two years in Europe might have changed your standards.”
“Well, I like that, Mary! Is that all the faith you had in my principles?”
“Oh, Harriet, you don’t know how upside down the world is getting even around here.
Why Mrs. Rutherford Barnes gave a party the other day and passed cigarettes, and they say that even Alvira Edgars smoked. Everybody smoked except Nettie Halloway, and she got up quickly and asked to be excused because her baby wasn’t well!”
“H’m! I always knew Nettie Halloway hadn’t enough backbone, didn’t you?”
They were all laughing now; Sherrill crinkled her nose and laughed with the rest then sobered quickly as her problem settled down upon her heavily again, filling her with a strange new excitement, mingled with a kind of moral alarm.
“Take that somber look out of your eyes, Sherrill,” demanded the guest. “You look as if you were going to the stake instead of New York. Haven’t I solved all your problems for you?”
Sherrill smiled with a troubled wistfulness.
“You’ve helped a lot, Aunt Harry! It was wonderful of you to bring me a real evening dress and wrap from Paris! I can’t believe they are going to be mine! I don’t believe I had sense enough to thank you.”
“Well, wait till you see them. You may not like them. In which case I suppose I’ll have to give them to Maria Hodgkins.”
Maria Hodgkins was a fat and faithful servitor of most uncertain age, in the boardinghouse where Harriet Masters always stayed, and the vision of Maria in an evening dress brought peals of laughter from them all, even Grandma joining in.
The guest did not stay long. She had only just arrived and her trunk had not yet been sent up, so there had been no opportunity to unpack and settle.
“Well, I must run along back,” she said, rising suddenly. “Old Ephraim promised to have the trunks up inside of an hour, and I’ll have all I can do to get settled by night. But Sherrill, you run over first thing in the morning and we’ll go through my things and pick out some models for you to copy.”
Chapter 7
Y es, but what am I going to copy them in?” said Sherrill in a puzzled tone as she turned away from watching the guest down the sidewalk. “It costs money, Mother, to buy materials, and I don’t intend to have you and Grandmother and Keith going without things while I loaf off to the city and play millionaire.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that!” said Mrs. Washburn happily. “We’ll manage somehow to get what you need without scrimping anybody. We always have. Now take that cloud away from your brow, Sherrill, and sing a little. I’ve missed your voice for a whole week, ever since your uncle’s letter came. That’s no way to start a vacation. Don’t you want to go? Don’t you really
want
to go, child?”
“Why, yes, I suppose I do”—Sherrill hesitated—”if I could go right. I’d like to see New York, and just get an idea of how our relatives live. But I can’t help feeling it’s not going to be congenial.”
“Well, even if it isn’t it will be a good experience for you. Take it as a part of your discipline of life then, and make the most of it. Now, run away upstairs and get out your old things. Let’s see what we’ve got to go on before we plan for new things. You ought to have at least one or two new things that could be made over for every day. We always have bought more goods than we needed with that in mind you know. There’s that green crepe with the satin back. There’s a full yard and a half of that. I’m sure that would work up into a nice little dress.”
“Why yes, of course,” said Sherrill, looking up brightly. “I’m sure it will, and maybe the brown satin, too. I’ll go and
“Oh, I’m so glad you still feel that way, Harriet,” said Sherrill’s mother, giving her old friend an adoring glance. “I was so afraid that two years in Europe might have changed your standards.”
“Well, I like that, Mary! Is that all the faith you had in my principles?”
“Oh, Harriet, you don’t know how upside down the world is getting even around here.
Why Mrs. Rutherford Barnes gave a party the other day and passed cigarettes, and they say that even Alvira Edgars smoked. Everybody smoked except Nettie Halloway, and she got up quickly and asked to be excused because her baby wasn’t well!”
“H’m! I always knew Nettie Halloway hadn’t enough backbone, didn’t you?”
They were all laughing now; Sherrill crinkled her nose and laughed with the rest then sobered quickly as her problem settled down upon her heavily again, filling her with a strange new excitement, mingled with a kind of moral alarm.
“Take that somber look out of your eyes, Sherrill,” demanded the guest. “You look as if you were going to the stake instead of New York. Haven’t I solved all your problems for you?”
Sherrill smiled with a troubled wistfulness.
“You’ve helped a lot, Aunt Harry! It was wonderful of you to bring me a real evening dress and wrap from Paris! I can’t believe they are going to be mine! I don’t believe I had sense enough to thank you.”
“Well, wait till you see them. You may not like them. In which case I suppose I’ll have to give them to Maria Hodgkins.”
Maria Hodgkins was a fat and faithful servitor of most uncertain age, in the boardinghouse where Harriet Masters always stayed, and the vision of Maria in an evening dress brought peals of laughter from them all, even Grandma joining in.
The guest did not stay long. She had only just arrived and her trunk had not yet been sent up, so there had been no opportunity to unpack and settle.
“Well, I must run along back,” she said, rising suddenly. “Old Ephraim promised to have the trunks up inside of an hour, and I’ll have all I can do to get settled by night. But Sherrill, you run over first thing in the morning and we’ll go through my things and pick out some models for you to copy.”
Chapter 7
Y es, but what am I going to copy them in?” said Sherrill in a puzzled tone as she turned away from watching the guest down the sidewalk. “It costs money, Mother, to buy materials, and I don’t intend to have you and Grandmother and Keith going without things while I loaf off to the city and play millionaire.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that!” said Mrs. Washburn happily. “We’ll manage somehow to get what you need without scrimping anybody. We always have. Now take that cloud away from your brow, Sherrill, and sing a little. I’ve missed your voice for a whole week, ever since your uncle’s letter came. That’s no way to start a vacation. Don’t you want to go? Don’t you really
want
to go, child?”
“Why, yes, I suppose I do”—Sherrill hesitated—”if I could go right. I’d like to see New York, and just get an idea of how our relatives live. But I can’t help feeling it’s not going to be congenial.”
“Well, even if it isn’t it will be a good experience for you. Take it as a part of your discipline of life then, and make the most of it. Now, run away upstairs and get out your old things. Let’s see what we’ve got to go on before we plan for new things. You ought to have at least one or two new things that could be made over for every day. We always have bought more goods than we needed with that in mind you know. There’s that green crepe with the satin back. There’s a full yard and a half of that. I’m sure that would work up into a nice little dress.”
“Why yes, of course,” said Sherrill, looking up brightly. “I’m sure it will, and maybe the brown satin, too. I’ll go and
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