as if because of sudden motor trouble within Jane. Her
mouth was equally affected, remaining open at a visible crisis in the
performance of its duty. These were the tokens of her agitation upon
beholding the removal of a dolls' house from one of the wagons. This
dolls' house was at least five feet high, of proportionate breadth and
depths the customary absence of a facade disclosing an interior of four
luxurious floors, with stairways, fireplaces, and wall-paper. Here was a
mansion wherein doll-duchesses, no less, must dwell.

Straightway, a little girl ran out of the open doorway of the brick
house and, with a self-importance concentrated to the point of
shrewishness, began to give orders concerning the disposal of her
personal property, which included (as she made clear) not only the
dolls' mansion, but also three dolls' trunks and a packing-case of fair
size. She was a thin little girl, perhaps half a year younger than Jane;
and she was as soiled, particularly in respect to hands, brow, chin, and
the knees of white stockings, as could be expected of any busybodyish
person of nine or ten whose mother is house-moving. But she was
gifted--if we choose to put the matter in the hopeful, sweeter way--she
was gifted with an unusually loud and shrill voice, and she made herself
heard over the strong-voiced men to such emphatic effect that one of the
latter, with the dolls' mansion upon his back, paused in the gateway to
acquaint her with his opinion that of all the bossy little girls he had
ever seen, heard, or heard of, she was the bossiest.

"THE worst!" he added.

The little girl across the street was of course instantly aware of Jane,
though she pretended not to be; and from the first her self-importance
was in large part assumed for the benefit of the observer. After a
momentary silence, due to her failure to think of any proper response to
the workman who so pointedly criticized her, she resumed the peremptory
direction of her affairs. She ran in and out of the house, her brow dark
with frowns, her shoulders elevated; and by every means at her disposal
she urged her audience to behold the frightful responsibilities of one
who must keep a thousand things in her head at once, and yet be ready
for decisive action at any instant.

There may have been one weakness in this strong performance: the
artistic sincerity of it was a little discredited by the increasing
frequency with which the artist took note of her effect. Du