Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/55

The Iron Age The woman, who was gazing absently out of the window, shook her head, and seemed to swallow something that stuck in her throat.

"Teddie was such a baby, you know, Aunt Frankie! And you won't care if I don't ask you to come when we unbury the cat?"

Again the other shook her head, but this time with a smile.

"And you don't mind me being his sure-enough girl after this, do you?" Then there was a pause. "It's just as well, you know, Aunt Frankie, because he often said he'd wait and marry me if I truly wanted him to. And Ali Baba, dear old Ali Baba, is so nice." There was another long pause. "Aunt Frankie, don't you think it's—it's piggy of mamma to keep me in these hor'ble short skirts?"

But the other went away without answering, and left the child still wrapped in thought.

When Ali Baba came as he had promised, Peggy's aunt had locked herself in her room, and Ali Baba accordingly did not play with 43