Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/29

Rh eclairs, and we planned to have a kind of make-up party.

"When we got home the studio was dark and I felt a funny creepy feeling down my back. I was kind of scared and held on tight to Daddy's hand. When we lit the gas we didn't know at first what was the matter; things were in such a mess. But when we got used to the light and looked around a hit we found all of Mamma's pretty dresses were gone, and her three big trunks that used to be shoved back in one of the largest closets, and then Daddy saw a letter stuck in the mirror, and when he read it he whistled a long whistle and then he laughed a kind of hard laugh.

"'Well, Beck child, Mamma has gone and left me to hold the bag.'

"And I said, 'Am I the bag, Daddy?'

"No, honey, let's say the studio is the bag and you are the strings to the bag.'

"Then we got busy and had dinner. We put the violets on the table and they spried up a lot. I cooked the chops and we had the eclairs for dessert, and Daddy opened a bottle of champagne in honor of the occasion. Altogether the make-up party was a great success. The next day we got Mrs. O'Shea over to straighten us up, and it was kind of like a funeral, the way