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Page 4
"In whose mouth?"
Mr. Parlin looked across the aisle.
"That 'big man' is my old friend Captain Lally," said he quite pleased;
and in a moment he was shaking hands with him. Presently the captain and
his son Adolphus changed places with the woman and the freckled girl,
and made themselves neighbors to the Parlins. The two seats were turned
_vis-a-vis_, the gentlemen occupying one, the children the other.
Now Dotty discovered what it was that Adolphus had in his lap; it was a
Spanish rabbit; and if you never saw one, little reader, you have no
idea how beautiful an animal can be. If there is any gem so soft and
sparkling as his liquid Indian-red eyes, with the sunshine quivering in
them as in dewdrops, then I should like to see that gem, and have it set
in the finest gold, and send it to the most beautiful woman in the world
to wear for a ring. This rabbit was white as a snowball, with ears as
pink as blush roses, and a mouth that was always in motion, whether
Adolphus put lumps of sugar in it or not.
Dotty went into raptures. She forgot her "style" hat, and her new
dignity, and had no greater ambition than to hold the lovely white ball
in her arms. Adolphus allowed her to do so. He was very kind to answer
all her questions, and always in the most sensible manner. If Dotty had
been a little older, she would have seen that the captain's son was a
remarkably intelligent boy, in spite of his smashed hat.
After everything had been said that could possibly be thought of, in
regard to rabbits and their ways, Dotty looked again, and very
critically, at Adolphus. His collar was wrinkled, his necktie one-sided,
he wore no gloves, and, on the whole, was not dressed ad well as Dotty,
who had started from home that very morning, clean and fresh. He was
every day as old as Susy; but Miss Dimple, as a traveller bound on a
long journey, felt herself older and wiser still, and began to talk
accordingly. Smoothing down the skirt of her dress with her
neatly-gloved hands, she remarked:--
CHAPTER II.
THE CAPTAIN'S SON.
"Is your name Dollyphus?"
"Yes, Adolphus Lally."
"Well, my name is Alice. Nobody calls me by it but my papa and my
grandmas. Dotty Dimple is my short name. There are a pair of dimples
dotted into my cheek; don't, you see? That's what it's for. I was born
so. My _other_ sisters haven't any at all."
Adolphus smiled quietly; he had seen dimples before.
"You didn't ever know till just now there was any such girl as _me_, I
s'pose."
"No, I never did."
"I live in the city of Portland," pursued Dotty, with a grand air, "and
my papa and mamma, and two sisters, and a Quaker grandma (only you must
say 'Friend') with a white handkerchief on. Have you any grandma like
that?"
"No, my grandmother is dead."
"Why, there's two of mine alive, and one grandpa. Just as nice! They
don't scold. They let you do everything. I wouldn't _not_ have
grandmothers and fathers for anything! But _you_ can't help it. Did you
ever have your house burnt up?"
"No, indeed."
"Well, ours did; the chambers, and the cellar, and the windows and
doors. We hadn't any place to stay. My sister Susy! You ought to heard
her cry! I lost the beautifulest tea-set; but I didn't say much about
it."
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