and goats and girls, and I stood still, like all the other grown
people, to see what was the matter. I laughed till I cried. Frederick
stumbled at every other step, and Dick got his feet so tangled that he
fell flat twice. If old Admiral Bloodgood's ghost had been chasing
them, they couldn't have run faster. Nobody but Miss Gibbie would have
dressed them up that way."

"And nobody but Miss Gibbie would have come back at me as she did
when I told her how uneasy I had been by the boys' absence at dinner,"
said Mrs. Moon, who had moved nearer the window. "It was twelve
years ago, but I have never forgotten what she said or the way she
said it. I can see her now." Mrs. Moon sat upright. "'My dear Madam,'
she said, 'my dear Madam, you will have cause not only for uneasiness,
but for shame and sorrow, if you don't let your boys understand early
in life that disrespect to ladies means disaster later on.'"

"That's true; but a lot of true things aren't nice to have on your
mind. Don't you all think it's awful hot in here? I do," and again
Mrs. Tate got up and walked across the room, this time throwing wide
the shutters and letting in a glare of sunshine. "If I'd known it was
going to be as warm as this I would have made some lemonade. There
goes Mary Cary!" and, looking up, the ladies saw her smile and nod and
shake her fan at some one who was passing.

"Is she riding?" asked Mrs. Webb, threading the needle held closely to
her eyes--"or walking?"

"Riding, and without a piece of hat. That little Peggy McDougal is
with her, holding a green parasol over both."