elp seeing she had no style; but the
boys liked her, for all that. If they had only known what their hostess
thought, there would have been some surprise.

"These little misses look to me like bonnet flowers made out of
book-muslin. Prudy, now, is a genuine, fresh moss rose bud. There is no
comparison, you dear little Prudy, between artificial and natural
flowers!"

Mrs. Pragoff was called a "finished lady." She was acquainted with some
of the best people in Europe and America. What could she see in Prudy?
The child was not to be compared with these exquisite little creatures,
who had maids to dress them, and foreign masters come to their houses
and teach them French, music, and dancing. Why, Prudy did not know
French from Hebrew; she had only learned a few tunes on the piano, and
could not sing "operatic" to save her life; her dancing was generally
done on one foot. What was the charm in Prudy?

Just one thing--_Naturalness_. She was not made after a pattern.

"It was a great risk inviting them here, and that youngest one seems
very delicate; but let what will happen, I make a note of this: I have
seen four live children."

Live children indeed! And here comes one of them now--the unaccountable
Fly, darting into the room very unexpectedly, rubbing her eyes as she
runs.

"Why, Topknot!" cried Horace, making a dash upon her; for her frock was
unfastened, and slipping off at the shoulders, and her head looked like
a last year's bird's nest.

"Scusa me," whispered the "live child," very much astonished to see such
a crowd.

"But you ought not to come down here half undressed, you little midget!"

"What if I wanted to ask you sumpin?" stammered the child, more alarmed
by her brother's sternness than by the fire of strange eyes. "'Spec' I
mus' have my froat _goggled_; have some more _poke-rime_ round it,
Hollis!" added she, in a tone loud enough to be heard by half the party.

Think of mentioning "poke-rime" in fashionable society!

"Tell her she must dance 'Little Zephyrs,' or you'll send her right
back," suggested Prudy, who was famous for thinking of the right thing
at the right time, and so making awkward affairs pass off well.

"Yes, Fly, come out in the floor, and dance 'Little Zephyrs' this
minute, or you must go back to bed."

Anything for the sake of staying down stairs. Hardly conscious of the
strange faces about her, the child flew into the middle of the room,
rubbed some more sleep out of her eyes