Mollie left the white gate, which swung behind her with a sharp
click, and walked up the path towards Prudence. Laddie circled round
with a few inquiring sniffs, decided that the newcomer was harmless,
and stood blinking his eyes in the sunlight, his bushy tail waving
slowly from side to side. Prudence slid an arm through Mollie's.

"I'm so glad you've come," she said. "Hugh's little house is all but
finished, and he promised to let us up to-day. Let's go and sit
beside Grizzel till he calls."

Mollie's eyes followed the turn of Prue's head, and she saw a
younger child seated upon the golden floor beyond the flower-beds.
This child wore an overall of bright blue cotton, shaped like
Prue's, and her head was covered with short red curls, which shone
in the sun like burnished copper. Prudence frowned a little as she
looked at her sister:

"How Grizzel can sit in the middle of that yellow, dressed in that
blue, with that red hair, I can't think," she said. "She calls
herself an artist, but it simply puts my teeth on edge. Did you ever
see anything so ugly?"

"Ugly!" Mollie repeated in surprise. "I think it is beautiful, just
like a picture in _Colour_. What is she doing?"

The child looked up at that moment and smiled at them. "Hullo,
Mollie," she said in a friendly tone, as if she were quite well
acquainted with the new arrival, "come and see my dandelion-chain;
it's nearly done."