eal Parisian doll--_bebe jumeau--je
fais dodo--je voudrais une maman_--and all the rest of it! Kindly
notice, they're real ball joints, and not just slung together with bits
of elastic. Observe the beautiful little teeth, that might have stepped
out of a dentist's advertisement, and the richness of the brown curls.
'Hair rather thin', did someone remark? Well, buy a new wig for it,
then; you can't expect everything! 'Lost a hand?' So have a good many of
our soldiers. It's only in the fashion. Be glad it hasn't lost both, and
a leg too! White silk dress and red coat, and clothes that take on and
off! Why, I feel that I want to play with it myself, and take it to bed
with me. What offers? Someone kindly make a bid to begin. Two
shillings--thank you! Two and six! Three shillings! Come, ladies, it's
worth pounds instead of shillings at present-day prices! Four shillings!
Four and six! I see I shall have to buy it myself. Only four and six!
I'm getting too fond of it to part with it! Five shillings! I'm going to
name it Rosabelle! Five shillings! Going at only five shillings! With a
red coat and a white silk dress! I'll throw in this hat as well. Five
shillings--who'll say five and six? It's a real bargain. The sort you
only meet once in a lifetime. Going at five and six! Real Parisian.
Going! Going! Gone!"

Patsie struck her ruler on the back of an extemporized desk, and dropped
the doll in question into the delighted arms of Virginia Hewlett; then,
leaving Dorothy to complete the business part of the transaction,
transferred her attention to other objects of sale.

"Here's a post-card album!" she announced. "If you don't collect post
cards, you ought to; and if you haven't an album to put them in, now's
your chance! Best crocodile back! 'Imitation', did somebody remark?
Well, never mind, it's quite as good as original. We can't import
crocodiles during the war. The Kaiser's bought them all up to
manufacture crocodile tears! 'Some of the slips torn'? Mend them up with
a little seccotine, and they'll be as good as new. Fourpence! Sixpence!
Eightpence! A shilling! Going at a shilling! Going! Gone!"

There seemed no end to Patsie's powers of apt description. The girls
giggled hysterically as, almost with tears in her voice, she descanted
upon the merits of a cracked teapot, the beauties of a battered
birdcage, or the capacity of a Japanese pencil-box. The fun of
out-bidding spread like infection, and many of the articles fet