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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