ten years older. She really looked very
feeble, and Polly broke out impulsively, "Oh, let me read the other part
of the paper, dear Mrs. Chatterton. May I?"

"Read it," said Mrs. Chatterton ungraciously, and sat down in her
favorite chair.

Polly, scarcely believing her ears, whirled over the sheet, and
determined to read as well as she possibly could, managed to throw so
much enthusiasm into the fashion hints and social items, that presently
Mrs. Chatterton's eyes were sparkling again, although she was deprived
of her unsavory morsels.

And before long she was eagerly telling Polly to read over certain
dictates of the Paris correspondent, who was laying down the law for
feminine dress, and calling again for the last information of the
movements of members of her social set, till there could be no question
of her enjoyment.

Polly, not knowing or caring how long she had been thus occupied, so
long as Mrs. Chatterton was happy, was only conscious that Hortense came
back from the errands, which occasioned only a brief pause.

"Put the parcels down," said Mrs. Chatterton, scarcely glancing at her,
"I cannot attend to you now. Go on, Polly."

So Polly went on, until the fashionable and social world had been so
thoroughly canvassed that even Mrs. Chatterton was quite convinced that
she could get no more from the paper.

"You may go now," she said, but with a hungry glance for the first page.
Then she tore her gaze away, and repeated more coldly than ever, "You
may go."

Polly ran off, dismayed to find how happy she was at the release. Her
feet, unaccustomed to sitting still so long, were numb, and little
prickles were running up and down her legs. She hurried as fast as she
could into Mamsie's room, feeling in need of all the good cheer she
could find.

"Mrs. Fisher has gone out," said Jane, going along the hall.

"Gone out!" repeated Polly, "Oh, where? Do you know, Jane?"

"I don't exactly know," said Jane, "but she took Miss Phronsie; and I
think it's shopping they went for. Mr. King has taken them in the
carriage."

"Oh, I know it is," cried Polly, and a dreadful feeling surged through
her. Why had she spent all this time with that horrible old woman, and
lost this precious treat!

"They thought you had gone to the Salisbury School," said Jane, wishing
she could give some comfort, "for they wanted you awfully to go."

"And now I've lost it all," cried Polly at a white heat--"all this
perfectly splendid