my room does certainly make me green. Do I look pretty nice, Anne?”
“Do you really know how pretty you are, Phil?” asked Anne, in honest
admiration.
“Of course I do. What are looking glasses and men for? That wasn’t what I
meant. Are all my ends tucked in? Is my skirt straight? And would this rose look
better lower down? I’m afraid it’s too high—it will make me look lop-sided. But
I hate things tickling my ears.”
“Everything is just right, and that southwest dimple of yours is lovely.”
“Anne, there’s one thing in particular I like about you—you’re so ungrudging.
There isn’t a particle of envy in you.”
“Why should she be envious?” demanded Aunt Jamesina. “She’s not quite as
goodlooking as you, maybe, but she’s got a far handsomer nose.”
“I know it,” conceded Phil.
“My nose always has been a great comfort to me,” confessed Anne.
“And I love the way your hair grows on your forehead, Anne. And that one
wee curl, always looking as if it were going to drop, but never dropping, is
delicious. But as for noses, mine is a dreadful worry to me. I know by the time
I’m forty it will be Byrney. What do you think I’ll look like when I’m forty,
Anne?”
“Like an old, matronly, married woman,” teased Anne.
“I won’t,” said Phil, sitting down comfortably to wait for her escort. “Joseph,
you calico beastie, don’t you dare jump on my lap. I won’t go to a dance all over
cat hairs. No, Anne, I WON’T look matronly. But no doubt I’ll be married.”
“To Alec or Alonzo?” asked Anne.
“To one of them, I suppose,” sighed Phil, “if I can ever decide which.”
“It shouldn’t be hard to decide,” scolded Aunt Jamesina.
“I was born a see-saw Aunty, and nothing can ever prevent me from
teetering.”
“You ought to be more levelheaded, Philippa.”
“It’s best to be levelheaded, of course,” agreed Philippa, “but you miss lots of
fun. As for Alec and Alonzo, if you knew them you’d understand why it’s
difficult to choose between them. They’re equally nice.”
“Then take somebody who is nicer” suggested Aunt Jamesina. “There’s that
Senior who is so devoted to you—Will Leslie. He has such nice, large, mild
eyes.”