Page:An Old Fashioned Girl.djvu/121

Rh "But Sally only sighed in her sleep, and muttered, wickedly, 'Ma, take me home. I'm starved at Cotton's.'

"'Mercy on me! is the child going to have a fever?' cried the old lady, who did not observe the telltale nuts at her feet.

"'So dull, so strict! O take me home!' moaned Sally, tossing her arms and gurgling, like a naughty little gypsy.

"That last bit of acting upset the whole concern, for as she tossed her arms she showed the big red cushion on her breast. Near-sighted as she was, that ridiculous object could not escape Miss Cotton, neither did the orange that rolled out from the pillow, nor the boots appearing at the foot of the bed.

"With sudden energy the old lady plucked off the cover, and there lay Sally with her hair dressed a la Topsey, her absurd breast-pin and her dusty boots, among papers of candy, bits of pie and cake, oranges and apples, and a candle upside down burning a hole in the sheet.

"At the sound of Miss Cotton's horrified exclamation Sally woke up, and began laughing so merrily that none of us could resist following her example, and the rooms rang with merriment for many minutes. I really don't know when we should have stopped if Sally had not got choked with the nut she had in her mouth, and so frightened us nearly out of our wits."

"What became of the things, and how were you punished?" asked Fan, in the middle of her laughter.