"
Mr. Farrington laughed.
"Yes, fortunately," he remarked.
Cicely eyed him askance for a moment; then she too burst out laughing,
while two deep dimples appeared in her cheeks and a queer little pucker
came at the outer corners of her eyes. There was something so fresh, so
heartily frank about her that Theodora felt a sudden liking for the girl,
a sudden homesick twinge for her own healthy girlhood.
"There, I have made another of my speeches!" Cicely was saying, with a
contrition that was only half mockery. "I'm always doing it, and you will
have to put up with it. But truly I don't mind red hair, as long as it
doesn't curl; and I hadn't any idea of being rude."
"Mine is tolerably straight, and I'm not very sensitive about it now for
I have had it for some time," Billy observed gravely. "Cicely, this is
your Cousin Theodora."
The girl turned around and stretched out her hand eagerly.
"Oh, I am so glad to be with you!" she said. "It seems to me I've loved
you always, just from your books. You are so good to let me come to you.
Am I going to be very much in the way? I'll try to be very good, just as
good as I know how."
"And not be homesick?" Theodora asked laughingly, as she took Cicely's
hand in both of hers.
Instantly the grey eyes clouded.
"I'll try not," Cicely answered. "I know I shall be happy, only--I wish
papa needn't go so far away.
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