did Adelaide represent that all the taste and skill was in the laying
out the leaves, and pinning them down, and that anyone could put on
the ink; in vain did Mary represent the dirtiness of the work: this
was the beauty of it in her eyes; and the sight of the black dashes
sputtering through the comb filled her with emulation; so that she
entreated, almost piteously, to be allowed to "do" an ivy loaf, which
she had hastily, and not very carefully, pinned out with Mary's
assistance--that is, she had feebly and unsteadily stuck every pin,
and Mary had steadied them.

The new friends consented, seeing how much she was set on it; but
Fanny, who had returned from the nursery, insisted on precautions--
took off the jacket, turned up the frock sleeves, and tied on an
apron; though Kate fidgeted all the time, as if a great injury were
being inflicted on her; and really, in her little frantic spirit,
thought Lady Fanny a great torment, determined to delay her delight
till her aunt should go away and put a stop to it.

When once she had the brush, she was full of fun and merriment, and
kept her friends much amused by her droll talk, half to them, half to
her work.

"There's a portentous cloud, isn't there? An inky cloud, if ever
there was one! Take care, inhabitants below; growl, growl, there's
the thunder; now comes the rain; hail, hail, all hail, like the
beginning of Macbeth."

"Which the Frenchman said was in compliment to the climate," said
Fanny; at which the whole company fell into convulsions of laughing;
and neither Kate nor Grace exactly knew what hands or brush or comb