"
"Well, the next time wait until I send you. What kind of a thing have you
got on, anyway? That's a queer sort of a hat for a girl to wear. Take it
off. You look like a rough boy with that on. You make me think of John
when he had been out disobeying me."
Elizabeth took off the offending headgear, and revealed her smoothly
parted, thick brown hair in its long braid down her back.
"Why, you're rather a pretty girl if you were fixed up," said the old
lady, sitting up with interest now. "I can't remember your mother, but I
don't think she had fine features like that."
"They said I looked like father," said Elizabeth.
"Did they? Well, I believe it's true," with satisfaction. "I couldn't
bear you if you looked like those lowdown ----"
"Grandmother!" Elizabeth stood up, and flashed her Bailey eyes.
"You needn't 'grandmother' me all the time," said the lady petulantly.
"But you look quite handsome when you say it. Take off that ill-fitting
coat. It isn't thick enough for winter, anyway. What in the world have you
got round your waist? A belt? Why, that's a man's belt! And what have you
got in it? Pistols? Horrors! Marie, take them away quick! I shall faint! I
never could bear to be in a room with one. My husband used to have one on
his closet shelf, and I never went near it, and always locked the room
when he was out. You must put them out in the hall. I cannot breathe where
pistols are. Now sit down and tell me all about it, how old you are, and
how you got here.
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