call here on Gracie and me."

"I think not, if you are prompt in your movements," he said. "I shall
sit here for some little time reading the morning paper."

"Oh, I am glad of that! and perhaps, papa, if you look over the
advertisements you may find something that will help us in the search
for the pretty things we want to buy."

"Very possibly," he replied. "I will look them over at once."

"Thank you, sir. I'll do as you bid me and be back again as soon as ever
I can; for I don't like to lose a minute of my father's morning call,"
she said, giving him a bright, loving look, then hurrying back to her
sister.

"We'll have to make haste, Gracie," she said, "if we don't want to miss
altogether our morning chat with papa. We are to wear our new gray
dresses, he says."

"That suits me nicely, for I think them becoming, pretty, and suitable.
Don't you?"

"Yes; I think nobody has better taste or judgment about dress than our
father."

"Just my opinion; and we may well think so, considering how many lovely
dresses and ornaments he has bought for us, selecting them without the
help or advice of anyone. There, sister dear, your dress is on all right
and I shall make haste to change mine while you put the finishing