The boys ask me if
Pop painted it."
"Why do you strain it back so tight?"
"Keep it out o' my eyes."
"Nonsense; you needn't drag it out by the roots. Why do you tie the
braids with strings?"
"'Cause they hold, an' I hain't got no ribbons."
"Why don't you buy some with the money you earn here?"
"Savin' up for the Fourth."
"Well, I have yards of old Christmas ribbons that I'll give you if
you'll use them."
"All right."
"What do you scrub your face with, that makes those shiny knobs stick
right out on your forehead and cheek bones?"
"Sink soap."
"Well, you shouldn't; haven't you any other?"
"It's upstairs."
"Aren't your legs in good working order?"
Uncomprehending silence on Lallie Joy's part and then Nancy returned to
the onslaught.
"Don't you like to look at pretty things?"
"Dunno but I do, an' dunno as I do."
"Don't you love the rooms your father has finished here?"
"Kind of."
"Not any more than that?"
"Pop thinks some of 'em's queer, an' so does Bill Harmon."
Long silence, Nancy being utterly daunted.
"How did you come by your name, Lallie Joy?"
"Lallie's out of a book named Lallie Rook, an' I was born on the Joy
steamboat line going to Boston."
"Oh, I thought Joy was _Joy_!"
"Joy Line's the only joy I ever heard of!"
There is no knowing how long this depressing conversation would have
continued if the two girls had not heard loud calls from Gilbert
upstairs.
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