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Main > Fairy tale > All authors > Frank Baum > Fairy tale "Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad"

Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad

"

Beth and Louise equally endorsed this statement; and indeed the child

was so sweet and pretty and so grateful for the least kindness bestowed

upon her that it was a pleasure to assist and counsel her.

Tato looked even smaller in girls' clothing than in boys', and she

improved so rapidly in her manners by constantly watching the nieces

that it was hard to imagine she had until now been all unused to polite

society. Already they began to dread the day when her father would come

to claim her, and the girls and Uncle John had conceived a clever plan

to induce the Duke to let his daughter travel with them on the continent

and then go for a brief visit to them in America.

"By that time," declared Louise, "Tato's education will be

accomplished, and she will be as refined and ladylike as any girl of her

age we know. Blood will tell, they say, and the monk who taught her must

have been an intelligent and careful man."

"She knows more of history and languages than all the rest of us put

together," added Beth.

"And, having adopted her, we mustn't do the thing by halves," concluded

Patsy; "so our darling little brigandess must tease her papa to let her

stay with us as long as possible."

Tato smiled and blushed with pleasure. It was very delightful to know

she had such enthusiastic friends. But she was afraid the Duke would not

like to spare her for so long a time as a visit to America would

require.

"You leave him to me," said Uncle John. "I'll argue the case clearly and

logically, and after that he will have to cave in gracefully."

Meantime the dainty gowns and pretty costumes were one by one finished

and sent to the hotel, and the girls ransacked the rather inadequate

shops of Syracuse for the smartest things in lingerie that could be

procured. As they were determined to "try everything on" and see how

their protйgй looked in her finery, Tato was now obliged to dress for

dinner and on every other possible occasion, and she not only astonished

her friends by her loveliness but drew the eye of every stranger as

surely as the magnet attracts the needle.

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