'She looks younger,' he said; 'but it is the same. I could
swear to the lip and the whole shape of the brow and chin. No--the
dress is different.'
For in the portrait, there was nothing on the head, and one long
lock of hair fell on the shoulder of the low-cut white-satin dress,
done in very heavy gray shading. The three girls came down
together, and I asked who the lady was.
'Don't you know? You ought; for that is poor Margaret who married
your ancestor.'
No more was said then, for the rest of the world was collecting, and
then everybody went out their several ways. Some tin tacks were
wanted for the dolls' house, and there were reports that Wattlesea
possessed a doll's grate and fire-irons. The children were wild to
go in quest of them, but they were not allowed to go alone, and it
was pronounced too far and too damp for the elder sister, so that
they would have been disappointed, if Clarence--stimulated by
Martyn's kicks under the table--had not offered to be their escort.
When Mrs. Fordyce demurred, my mother replied, 'You may perfectly
trust her with Clarence.'
'Yes; I don't know a safer squire,' rejoined my father.
Commendation was so rare that Clarence quite blushed with pleasure;
and the pretty little thing was given into his charge, prancing and
dancing with pleasure, and expecting much more from sixpence and
from Wattlesea than was likely to be fulfilled.
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