The little figure now approached very slowly, its head bent down, its
fingers in its mouth; though the girls saw nothing but a big, drooping
bonnet, a purple shawl, and a pair of tiny feet peeping out from a red
dress.

"I guess she came from Farther India," suggested Susy, that being the
most foreign land she could think of.

Dotty now gave a loud knock at the gate, and peeped in between the bars.
In doing so she had to push back the chaise-top, and the little girls
had a full view of her face.

"O, Dotty Dimple Parlin!" screamed her sisters, in dismay.

Fanny Harlow hastened to open the gate.

"Where did you come from, you naughty thing?" whispered Susy, with a
crimson face.

Dotty's sole answer was a violent sneeze, which burst off two buttons,
the only ones which fastened the scarlet merino.

"I've broke my dress," said Dotty, calmly.

The little girls were greatly amused, but Dotty eyed them with such a
gaze of lofty disdain that they kept their faces as straight as
possible.

"Poor thing," said cousin Florence; "how tired you must be! Don't you