y
will be walking there, but be sure to avoid the terrace and shrubberies
till you are made tidy, for I shall be both angry and mortified if your
papa's friends see you for the first time looking like rag-fair."

Laura promised to remember her grandmama's injunctions, and to remain
invisible all morning; so off she set to the garden, singing and
skipping with joy, as she ran towards her pleasant hiding-place,
planning twenty ways in which the day might be delightfully spent alone.
Before long she had strung a long necklace of daisies--she had put many
bright leaves in a book to dry--she had made a large ball of cowslips
to toss in the air--she had watered the hyacinths, with a watering-pot,
till they were nearly washed away--she had plucked more roses than could
possibly be carried, and eat as many gooseberries and cherries as it was
convenient to swallow,--but still there were several hours remaining to
be enjoyed, and nothing very particular, that Laura could think of, to
do.

Meantime, the miserable pink frock was torn worse than ever, and seemed
to be made of nothing but holes, for every gooseberry-bush in the garden
had got a share of it. Laura wished pink gingham frocks had never been
invented, and wondered why nothing stronger could be made! Having become
perfectly tired of the garden, she now wished herself anywhere else in
the world, and thought she was no better off, confined in this way
within four walls, than a canary bird in a cage.

"I should like so much to go, if it were only for five minutes, on the
terrace!" said she to herself. "How much pleasanter it is than this.
Grandmama did not care where I went, provided nobody saw me! I may at
least take a peep to see if any one is there!"

Laura now cautiously opened the garden-door, and put her head out,
intending only to look for a moment, but the moment grew longer and
longer, till it stretched into ten minutes.

"What crowds of fine people are walking about on the terrace!" thought
she. "It looks as gay as a fair! Who can that officer be in a red coat,
and cocked hat with white feathers. Probably General Courteney paying
attention to Lady Rockville. There is a lady in a blue cloak and blue
flowers! how very pretty! Everybody is so exceedingly smart! and I see
some little boys too! Grandmama never told me any children were coming!
I wonder how old they are, and if they will play with me in the evening!
It would be very amusing to venture a little neare