ie Lewis was startled by these words from the little Portland
girl:--

"I was told to give the key to the most horrid-looking person in the
room, and _I did so_!"

Dotty had not stopped to reflect that "the truth should not be spoken at
all times," and is often out of place in games of amusement. But to do
her justice, she was ashamed of her rudeness the moment the words were
spoken. Prudy was blushing from the roots of her hair to the lace in her
throat. "Why hadn't Dotty given the key to Horace or herself? Then
nobody would have minded."

Ah, Prudy, your little sister, though more brilliant than you are, has
not your exquisite tact.

Mrs. Pragoff tried to laugh off this awkward blunder, but did not
succeed. The moment Dotty could catch her ear, she said, in a low
tone,--

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Pragoff-yetski. Will it do any good to go and tell
her she made me think of a Shetland pony?"

Mrs. Pragoff laughed, and thought not. But afterwards she took Mallie
into a corner to show her some "seven-years" African flowers, and
said,--

"Mallie, dear, I wish you wouldn't veil those bright eyes under such
fuzzy little curls. That was why you got the key. Dotty Dimple isn't
used to seeing young ladies look like Shetland ponies."

Mallie's face brightened, or that part of it which was in sight. O, it
was only her hair the country child called horrid! After this she
actually allowed Dotty to sit beside her on the sofa, and look at the
fan which Mrs. Pragoff said Marie Antoinette had once owned. Miss Dimple
was remarkably polite and reserved.

"Safe as long as she stays in a corner," thought Horace; and he took
care to keep her supplied with books and pictures.

He enjoyed the party, not being overawed, as poor Prudy was. Wasn't he
as good as any of them? Better than most, for he didn't have to use an
eye-glass. "These fellows are got up cheap. What do hair-oil and
perfumery amount to?"

The boys, in their turn, looked at Horace, and decided he was
"backwoodsy." Nobody who sported a silver watch could belong to the
"first circles." However, when he allowed himself to be "Knight of the
Whistle," and hunted for the enchanted thing which everybody was
blowing, and found at last it was dangling down his own back from a
string, and they were all laughing at him, he was manly enough not to
get vexed. That carried him up several degrees in every one's esteem. In
his own, too, I confess.

As for Prudy, the girls could not h