_vis-a-vis_, the gentlemen occupying one, the children the other.

Now Dotty discovered what it was that Adolphus had in his lap; it was a
Spanish rabbit; and if you never saw one, little reader, you have no
idea how beautiful an animal can be. If there is any gem so soft and
sparkling as his liquid Indian-red eyes, with the sunshine quivering in
them as in dewdrops, then I should like to see that gem, and have it set
in the finest gold, and send it to the most beautiful woman in the world
to wear for a ring. This rabbit was white as a snowball, with ears as
pink as blush roses, and a mouth that was always in motion, whether
Adolphus put lumps of sugar in it or not.

Dotty went into raptures. She forgot her "style" hat, and her new
dignity, and had no greater ambition than to hold the lovely white ball
in her arms. Adolphus allowed her to do so. He was very kind to answer
all her questions, and always in the most sensible manner. If Dotty had
been a little older, she would have seen that the captain's son was a
remarkably intelligent boy, in spite of his smashed hat.

After everything had been said that could possibly be thought of, in
regard to rabbits and their ways, Dotty looked again, and very
critically, at Adolphus. His collar was wrinkled, his necktie one-sided,
he wore no gloves, and, on the whole, was not dressed ad well as Dotty,
who had started from home that very morning, clean and fresh. He was
every day as old as Susy; but Miss Dimple, as a traveller bound on a
long journey, felt herself older and wiser still, and began to talk
accordingly. Smoothing down the skirt of her dress with her
neatly-gloved hands, she remarked:--