Arthur "went with" Genevieve Hicks, a girl whom Missy privately
deemed frivolous and light-minded. Besides Missy herself was, at
this time, interested in Raymond Bonner, the handsomest boy in "the
crowd." Missy liked good looks--they appealed to the imagination or
something. And she adored everything that appealed to the
imagination: there was, for instance, the picture of Sir Galahad, in
shining armour, which hung on the wall of her room--for a time she
had almost said her prayers to that picture; and there was a
compelling mental image of the gallant Sir Launcelot in "Idylls of
the King" and of the stern, repressed, silently suffering Guy in
"Airy Fairy Lilian." Also there had recently come into her
possession a magazine clipping of the boy king of Spain; she
couldn't claim that Alphonso was handsome--in truth he was quite
ugly--yet there was something intriguing about him. She secretly
treasured the printed likeness and thought about the original a
great deal: the alluring life he led, the panoply of courts, royal
balls and garden-parties and resplendent military parades, and
associating with princes and princesses all the time. She wondered,
with a little sigh, whether his "crowd" called him by his first
name; though a King he was just a boy--about her own age.

Nevertheless, though Arthur Simpson was neither handsome nor
revealed aught which might stir vague, deep currents of romance,
Missy regretted that even Arthur had seen her in such a sorry
plight. She wished he might see her at a better advantage. For
instance, galloping up on a spirited mount, in a modish riding-
habit--a checked one with flaring-skirted coat and shining boots and
daring but swagger breeches, perhaps!--galloping insouciantly up to
take that dare!