"
There _wasn't_ any doing anything with Mrs. Hewitt. She was
having a gorgeous time, and she carried Joy along with her till the
girl was choosing pink and white silks and satins, and patterns to
make them by, with as much enthusiasm as if no day of reckoning
loomed up, three and a half weeks away.
There was no way out. Of course, she would leave the things behind.
The thought gave her a pang already, for Joy had been dressed by her
grandfather's ideas only as far as frocks went. Her grandmother had
seen to everything else, and was devoted to a durable material known
as longcloth, which one buys by the bolt and uses forever.
But they sped merrily home, after a festive luncheon, with about
forty dollars' worth of silk and lace and ribbon aboard, not to
speak of patterns, and a blue muslin frock which was a bargain and
would just fit Joy, and which she had invested in herself.
_"Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we practise to deceive!" _
Joy thought of that quotation so often now that she was beginning to
feel it was her favorite verse. But she touched the big parcel with
a small, appreciative foot, and remembered that the blue frock, at
least, would be saved out of the wreck, and that John liked blue.
Mrs. Hewitt showed her her bedroom when they got back, and left her
to take a nap. But she did not want to rest. She lay obediently
against the pillows and stared out the window at a great, vivid
maple tree, and felt very much like staying awake for the rest of
her natural life.
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