Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/32

28 remember the way she loved the little bangly things that tinkled like sweet bells, but for Daddy's sake I would have pawned my eyes and gone around the rest of my life being led by a little dog on a string.

"Then I started in on the dress suits, long-tailed and dinner coats too. First went father's! That had to go cheap because the waiter at The Golden Calf, who bought it, complained that it was out of style, with the tails too long and the trousers a bit too full. Papa had three dress suits and we lived a long time on them. I didn't sell Daddy's dress suit until the doctor had an expression on his face that made me know Daddy would never want it again. Daddy never liked it much, anyhow, and hated to dress up. Mrs. O'Shea didn't like my selling it at all. I knew what she was thinking about, but I pretended I didn't. I was determined that Daddy shouldn't be laid to rest in something he didn't like."

The child paused, looking at her listener with great eyes that seemed to hold the woe of centuries. Philip leaned forward and took one of her tiny hands in his. To think of such a little girl's having gone through so much misery!

"It is funny for me to be telling you all this. I can't think what got me going so. I am