and it would have had to be left behind. Laura eyed its battered sides
uneasily. Godmother might remember, she thought, that it contained her
whole wardrobe; and she wondered how many of Godmother's own ample gowns
could be compressed into so small a space.

"All my clothes are inside," she explained; "that I shall need for
months."

"Ah, I expect your poor mother has sat up sewing herself to death, that
you may be as well dressed as the rest of them," said Godmother, and
heaved a doleful sigh. But Cousin Grace laughed the wide laugh that
displayed a mouthful of great healthy teeth.

"What? All your clothes in there?" she cried. "I say! You couldn't be a
queen if you hadn't more togs than that."

"Oh, I know," Laura hastened to reply, and grew very red. "Queens need a
lot more clothes than I've got."

"Tut, tut!" said Godmother: she did not understand the allusion, which
referred to a former ambition of Laura's. "Don't talk such nonsense to
the child."

She drove very badly, and they went by quiet by-streets to escape
the main traffic: the pony-chaise wobbled at random from one side of the
road to the other, obstacles looming up only just in time for Godmother
to see them. The ponies shook and tossed their heads at the constant
sawing of the bits, and Laura had to be continually ducking, to keep out
of the way of the reins. She let the unfamiliar streets go past her in a
kind of dream; and there was silence for a time, broken only by