"That's a nice, dignified manner, that is! Your Serene Highness
will please calm yourself, and stay just where you are. _I_ shall
select the book to read from, and _I_ shall do the reading. All
you have to do is to lie still and listen."

So Marjorie obeyed, and, of course, Uncle Steve picked out the
very book she wanted, and read to her delightfully for an hour or
more.

Marjorie's porch, as it came to be called, proved to be a favorite
resort all summer long for the family and for any guests who came
to the house. Marjorie herself almost lived in it for the first
few days after she came downstairs, but at last the doctor
pronounced her ankle entirely well, and said she might "start out
to find some fresh mischief."

So the next morning, directly after breakfast, she announced her
intention of going down to see the boathouse.

"Just think," she exclaimed, "I have never seen it yet, and King
told me to go down there the very first thing."

"I suppose you'll come back half-drowned," said Grandma, "but as
you seem unable to learn anything, except by mistakes, go ahead.
But, Marjorie, do try not to do some absurd thing, and then say
that I haven't forbidden it! I don't forbid you to go in the boat,
if Carter goes with you, but I do forbid you to go alone. Will you
remember that?"