The Getting of Wisdom | Page 4

lying on the grass.
". . . and the Prince went further and further into the forest," said the
elder girl, "till he came to a beautiful glade--a glade, you know, is a
place in the forest that is open and green and lovely. And there he saw a
lady, a beautiful lady, in a long white dress that hung down to her
ankles, with a golden belt and a golden crown. She was lying on the
sward--a sward, you know, is grass as smooth as velvet, just like green
velvet--and the Prince saw the marks of travel on her garments. The
bottom of the lovely silk dress was all dirty----"
"Wondrous Fair, if you don't mind you'll make that sheet dirty, too,"
said Pin.
"Shut up, will you!" answered her sister who, carried away by her
narrative, had approached her boots to some linen that was bleaching.
"Yes, but you know Sarah'll be awfly cross if she has to wash it again,"
said Pin, who was practical.
"You'll put me out altogether," cried Laura angrily.--"Well, as I said,
the edge of her robe was all muddy--no, I don't think I will say that; it
sounds prettier if it's clean. So it hung in long, straight beautiful folds to
her ankles, and the Prince saw two little feet in golden sandals peeping
out from under the hem of the silken gown, and----"
"But what about the marks of travel?" asked Leppie.
"Donkey! haven't I said they weren't there? If I say they weren't, then
they weren't. She hadn't travelled at all."

"Oh, parrakeets!" cried little Frank.
Four pairs of eyes went up to the bright green flock that was passing
over the garden.
"Now you've all interrupted, and I shan't tell any more," said Laura in a
proud voice.
"Oh, yes, please do, Wondrous Fair! Tell what happened next," begged
Pin and Leppie.
"No, not another word. You can only think of sheets and parrakeets."
"Please, Wondrous Fair," begged little Frank.
"No, I can't now.--Another thing: I don't mind if you call me Laura
to-day, as it's the last day."
She lay back on the grass, her hands clasped under her head. A voice
was heard, loud, imperative.
"Laura, I want you. Come here."
"That's mother calling," said Pin.
Laura kicked her heels. The two little boys laughed approval.
"Go on, Laura," coaxed Pin. "Mother'll be angry. I'll come, too."
Laura raised herself with a grumble. "It's to try on that horrid dress."
In very fact Mother was standing, already somewhat impatient, with the
dress in her hand. Laura wriggled out of the one she had on, and stood
stiffly and ungraciously, with her arms held like pokers from her sides,
while Mother on her knees arranged the length.
"Don't put on a face like that, miss!" she said sharply on seeing Laura's
air. "Do you think I'm making it for my own pleasure?" She had sewn
at it all day, and was hot and tired.
"It's too short," said Laura, looking down.
"It's nothing of the kind," said Mother, with her mouth full of pins.
"It is, it's much too short."
Mother gave her a slight shake. "Don't you contradict ME! Do you
want to tell me I don't know what length you're to wear your dresses?"
"I won't wear it at all if you don't make it longer," said Laura defiantly.
Pin's chubby, featureless little face lengthened with apprehension.
"Do let her have it just a tiny bit longer, mother dear, dear!" she
pleaded.
"Now, Pin, what have you got to do with it I'd like to know!" said
Mother, on the verge of losing her temper over the back folds, which
WOULD not hang.

"I'm going to school to-morrow, and it's a shame," said Laura in the
low, passionate tone that never failed to exasperate Mother, so different
was it from her own hearty fashion of venting displeasure. Pin began to
sniff, in sheer nervous anxiety.
"Very well then, I won't do another stitch to it!" and Mother, now angry
in earnest, got up and bounced out of the room.
"Laura, how can you?" said Pin, dissolving. "It's only you who make
her so cross."
"I don't care," said Laura rebelliously, though she was not far off tears
herself. "It IS a shame. All the other girls will have dresses down to the
tops of their boots, and they'll laugh at me, and call me a [P.4] baby;"
and touched by the thought of what lay before her, she, too, began to
sniffle. She did not fail, however, to roll the dress up and to throw it
unto a corner of the room. She also kicked the ewer, which fell over
and flooded the floor. Pin cried more loudly, and ran to fetch Sarah.
Laura returned to the garden.