points; though she consumed the last crumb of the tart, her ears
gained no reward, until mother said:

"As soon as you've finished dinner, Missy, I wish you'd run over to
Greenleafs' and ask to borrow Miss Helen's new kimono pattern."

Missy brightened. The sight of old Mrs. Greenleaf and Miss Princess,
bustling gaily about, would lift this strange cloud gathering so
ominously. She asked permission to carry along a bunch of sweet
peas, and gathered the kind Miss Princess liked best--pinkish
lavender blossoms, a delicious colour like the very fringe of a
rainbow.

The Greenleafs' coloured maid let her in and showed her into the
"den" back of the parlour. "I'll tell Mrs. Greenleaf," she said.
"They're all busy upstairs."

Very busy they must have been, for Missy had restlessly dangled her
feet for what seemed hours, before she heard voices approaching the
parlour.

"Oh, I won't--I won't--" It was Miss Princess's voice, almost
unrecognizably high and quavering.

"Now, just listen a minute, darling--" This unmistakably Mr.
Hackett's languorous, curiously repellent monotone.

"Don't you touch me!"

Missy, stricken by the knowledge she was eavesdropping, peered about