ll boy, "but I must keep up with the music."

Dolly found me. "I think I had better dance gentleman," she said; "I
think I am as tall as you." With a tremendous effort she drew her slim
figure to its full height, and, gazing up into my face she had the
audacity to say, "Yes, I do just look down upon you; anyhow, men
aren't always taller than girls. My cousin says so, and she goes to
dances--heaps--and she is six foot."

We started off, I felt at once, on a perilous course. "You see," she
said, "I had better--steer--because" (bump we went into somebody),
"because--I dance once a week--always" (crash), "sometimes oftener--so
I get--plenty of practice" (bang) "in steering, and that helps. I love
dancing--don't you? Oh, that's all right--it's--only--the stupid--old
mantelpiece--I always go into that--it sticks out so--doesn't it? It is
hard--rather!"

Dolly was a flyer and no mistake. I was brought to a standstill at last
by colliding with Thomas's Fraulein.

"It's all right," said Dolly generously, "you didn't hurt us!"

Fraulein was hurled on to a sofa and made no remark. She gave up
temporarily the management of Thomas's left leg.

"Shall we sit out?" said Dolly. "It is hot, isn't it?"

She fanned herself with a very small program and tossed her hair back
from her face. It was such lovely hair.

"Hair is beastly stuff, isn't it?" she said. "Wouldn't you love to be
a boy? Oh, I promised mother not to say I 'beastly'; that's one of the
things I would like to be a boy for, because boys may do such an awful
lot of things."

I soon found out that Dolly liked boys better than girls.

She loved horses and dogs.

She hated and detested bearing-reins.

She didn't want to come out.

She thought grown-ups silly, except some--

She loved the country and strawberry ice.

She hated dull lessons, and I very soon discovered that there were none
other than dull.

She collected stamps.

She longed to have a pet monkey or a brother, she didn't much mind
which.

At the mention of brothers I looked down at Dolly's slim legs, clothed
in fine black silk stockings, at the valenciennes lace on her muslin
frock, and I imagined that if she had any brothers, the younger ones
would be quite likely to have started life in trousers of their own.
Yes, Dolly looked like it. I learned a great deal from her in the time
it had taken me to get "yeth" and "nope" out of Thomas.

The energetic boy who had been obliged to keep up with t