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this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit librivox.org read and recorded by Betsy Bush Marquette Michigan april 2006 a copycat by mary e Wilkins freeman that affair of jim simons's cat never became known to little boys and a little girl can keep a secret that is sometimes the two little boys had the advantage of the little girl because they could talk over the affair together and the little girl Lily Jennings had no intimate girlfriend to tempt her to confidence she had only little Amelia wheeler commonly called by the pupils of Madame's school a copycat amelia was an odd little girl that is everybody called her odd she was that rather unusual creature a child with a definite ideal and that ideal was Lily Jennings however nobody knew that if Amelia's mother who is a woman of strong character and suspected she would have taken strenuous measures to prevent such a peculiar state of affairs the more so because she herself did not in the least approve of Lily Jennings mrs. diantha wheeler Amelia's father had died when she was a baby often remarked to her own mother mrs. stark and to her mother-in-law mrs. Samuel wheeler that she did not feel that mrs. Jennings had brought up lily exactly as she should that child thinks entirely too much of her looks said mrs. diantha when she walks past here she switches those ridiculous thrilled frocks of hers as if she were entering at ballroom and she tosses her hair and looks about to see if anybody is watching her if I were to see Amelia doing those things I should be very firm with her Lily Jennings is a very pretty child said mother-in-law wheeler with an under meaning and mrs. diantha flushed Amelia did not in the least resemble the wheelers who are a handsome scent she looked remarkably like her mother who was a planned woman only little Amelia did not have a square chin her chin was pretty and round with a little dimple in it in fact Amelia's chin was the prettiest feature she had her hair was phenomenally straight it would not even yield to hot curling irons which her grandmother wheeler had tried to surreptitiously several times when there was a little girl's party I never saw such hair as that poor girl has in all my life she told the other grandmother mrs. stark have the stark saw his head such very straight hair mrs. stark stiffened her chin her own hair was very straight I don't know since she that the Starks have had any straighter hair than other people if Amelia does not have anything worse to contend with and straight hair I rather think she will get along in the world as well as most people it's thin to said grandmother wheeler with a sigh and it hasn't a mite of color oh well amelia is a good child and beauty isn't everything grandmother Wheeler said this as if Beauty were a great deal and grandmother stark arose and shook out her black silk skirts she had money and loved to dress in rich black silks and laces it is very little very little indeed said she and she eyed grandmother wheelers a lovely old face like a wrinkled old rose as to color faultless as to feature and swept about by the loveliest wave of shining silver hair then she went out of the room and grandmother wheeler left alone smiled she knew the worth of beauty for those who possess it and those who do not she had never been quite reconciled to her son's marrying such a plain girl is dianthus dark although she had money she considered beauty on the whole as a more valuable asset than mere gold she regretted always that poor little Amelia her only grandchild was so very plain-looking she always knew that amelia was very plain and yet sometimes the child puzzled her she seemed to see reflections of beauty if not beauty itself in the little colorless face in the figure with its two large joints and utter absence of curves she sometimes even wondered privately some subtle resemblance to the hands of wheelers might not be in the child and yet appear but she was mistaken what she saw was a mere mimicry of a beautiful ideal little Amelia tried to stand like Lily Jennings she tried to walk like her she tried to smile like her she made endeavours very often futile to dress like her mrs. wheeler did not in the least approve of verbal owes her children poor little Amelia went clad in severe simplicity durable woollen frogs in winter and washable unfaded and non-us all showing frogs in summer she although her mother had perhaps more money wherewith to dress her than had any of the other mothers was the plainest glad little girl in school Amelia moreover never Toro frog and as she did not grow rapidly one lasted several seasons Lily Jennings was destructive although dainty her pretty clothes were renewed every year amelia was helpless before that problem for a little girl burning with aspirations to be and look like another little girl who was beautiful and at war beautiful clothes to be obliged to set forth from atoms on a lovely spring morning when thin attire was in evidence dressed in dark blue and white checked gingham which she had warned for three summers and with sleeves which even too childish eyes was a trial then to see Lily flutter in a flock like a perfectly new white flower was sure not because of jealousy Emilio was not jealous but she so admired the other little girl and so loved her and so wanted to be like her as for Lily she hardly ever noticed Amelia she was not aware that she herself was an object of adoration for she was a little girl who searched for admiration in the eyes of little boys rather than little girls although very innocently she always glanced slyly at Johnny Trumbull when she wore a pretty new frock to see if he noticed he never did and she was sharp enough to know it she was also child enough not to care a bit but to make a queer pleasure in the sensation of scorn what she felt in consequence she would I Johnny from head to foot his boys clothing somewhat spotted his bulging pockets his always dust his shoes and when he twisted uneasily not understanding why she had a thrill of purely feminine delight it was on one such occasion that she first noticed Amelia wheeler particularly it was a lovely warm morning in May and Lily was a darling to behold in a big hat with wreath of blue flowers her hair tied with enormous blue silk bows her short skirts thrilled with eyelet embroidery her slender silk legs her little white sandals Madam's maid had not yet struck the Japanese gone and all the pupils were out on the lawn Amelia in her clean ugly bunam and her serviceable brown sailor hat covering it near Lily as usual like a common very plain butterfly there I particularly resplendent blossom Lily really noticed her she spoke to her confidently she recognized her fully as another of her own sex and presumably of similar opinions ain't boy is ugly anyway inquired Lily of Amelia and a wonderful change came over Amelia her sallow cheeks bloomed her eyes showed blue glitters her little skinny figure became instinct with nervous life she smiled charmingly with such eagerness that it smoked with pathos and bewitched oh yes oh yes she agreed in a voice like a quick flute obbligato boys are ugly such clothes said Lilly yes such clothes said Amelia always spotted said Lilly always covered all over with spots said Amelia and their pockets always full of horrid things said Lilly yes said Amelia Amelia glanced openly at Johnny Trumbull Lilly with a sidewise effect Johnny had heard every word suddenly he arose to action and knocked down Lee Westminster and sat on him Lenny up said Lee Johnny had no quarrel whatever with Lee he grinned but he SAT still Lee the SAT upon was a sharp little boy showing off before the gals he said in a thin whisper hush up returned to Johnny will you give me a writing pad I lost mine and mother said I couldn't have another for a week if I did if I don't holler enquired Lee yes hush up Lee lay still and Johnny continued to sit upon his prostrate form both were out of sight of Madame's windows behind a clump of the Cedars which graced her lawn always fighting said Lilly with a fine crescendo of scorn she lifted her chin high and also her nose always fighting said Amelia and also lifted her chin and nose amelia was a born mimic she actually looked like lily and she spoke like her then Lilly did a wonderful thing she doubled her soft little arm into an inviting loop of Amelia's little claw of a hand come along Amelia wheeler she said we don't want to stay near horrid fighting boys we will go by ourselves and they went Madame had a headache that morning and the Japanese Gong did not ring for 15 minutes longer during that time lily and Amelia sat they're on a little rustic bench under a twinkling poplar and they talked and it sort of miniature Sun and satellite relation was established between them although neither was aware of it Lily being on the whole a very normal little girl and not disposed even a full estimate of herself as compared with others her own sex did not dream of Amelia's adoration and Amelia being rarely destitute of the self-consciousness did not understand the whole scope of her own sentiments it was quite sufficient that she was seated close to this wonderful lily and agreeing with her to the verge of emulation of course said Lily girls are pretty and boys are just as ugly as they can be oh yes said Amelia fervently but said Lily thoughtfully in his queer how Johnny Trumbull always comes out ahead in a fight and he is not so very large either yes said Amelia but she realized a pang of jealousy girls could fight I suppose said she oh yes and get their clothes all torn and messy said Lily I shouldn't care said Amelia then she added with a little toss I almost no I could fight the thought even floated through her wicked little mind that fighting might be a method of wearing out obnoxious and durable clothes you said lily and the scorn in her voice wilted Amelia maybe I couldn't said she of course you couldn't and if you could what a sight you'd be of course it wouldn't hurt your clothes as much as some because your mother dresses you in strong things but you'd be sure to get black and blue and what would be the use anyway you couldn't be a boy if you did fight no high now I couldn't then what is the use we are a good deal prettier than boys and cleaner and have nicer manners and we must be satisfied you are prettier said Amelia with a look of worshipful admiration at Lily's sweet little face you are prettier said Lily then she added equivocally even the very homeliest girl is prettier than a boy poor Amelia it was a good deal for her to be called prettier than a very dusty boy in a fight she fairly dimpled with delight and again she smiled charmingly Lily I'd her critically you aren't so very homely after all Amelia she said you'd need to think you are Amelia smiled again when you look like you do now you were real pretty said Lily not knowing or even suspecting the truth that she was regarding in the face of this little art and soul her own as in a mirror however it was after that episode that Amelia wheeler was called copycat the two little girls entered Madame select school arm and arm when the musical Gong sounded and behind them came Lee Westminster and Johnny Trumbull surreptitiously dusting their garments and ever after the fact of Amelia's derision and imitation of Lily Jennings was evident to all even Madame became aware of it and held conferences with two of the under teachers it is not at all healthy for one child to model herself so entirely upon the pattern of another said Miss Parmalee missed certainly it is not agreed miss Acton the music teacher why that poor little Amelia wheeler had the rudiments of a fairly good contralto I had begun to wonder if the poor child might not be able at least sing a little and so make up for other things and now she tries to sing high like Lily Jennings and I simply cannot prevent it she has heard Lily play too and has lost her own touch and now it is neither one thing or the other I might speak to her mother said Madame thoughtfully Madame was American born but she was married to a French gentleman long since deceased and his name sounded well on her circulars she and her two under teachers were drinking tea in her library miss Parmalee who was a true lover of her pupils gasped at Madame's proposition whatever you do please do not tell that poor child's mother said she I do not think it would be quite wise if I may venture to express an opinion said miss Acton who was a timid soul and always inclined to shy at her own ideas but why asked Madame her mother said Miss Parmalee is a quite remarkable woman with a great strength of character but she would utterly fail to grasp the situation I must confess said Madame sipping her tea why any child not an absolute idiot should so lose her own identity in another's absolutely bewildered me I never heard of such a case miss Parmalee who had a sense of humor laughed a little it is bewildering she admitted and now the other children see how it is and call her a copycat to her face and she does not mind I doubt if she understands and neither does Lily for that matter Lily Jennings is full of mischief but she moves in straight lines she is not conceded in her self-conscious and she really likes Amelia without knowing why I fear Lily will lead a meal yet into mischief said Madame and Amelia has always been such a good child Lily will never mean to lead Amelia into mischief said loyal miss Parmalee but she will said Madame if Lily goes I cannot answer for Amelia's not following admitted miss Parmalee I regret it all very much indeed side Madame but it does seem to me still that Amelia's mother would not even believe it in the first place said Miss Parmalee well there is something in that had knitted Madame I'm itself could not even imagine such a situation I would not know of it now if you and miss Acton had not told me there is not the slightest cuse in telling Amelia not to imitate Lily because she does not know that she is imitating her said Miss Parmalee if she were to be punished for it she could never comprehend the reason that is true said miss Acton I realized that when the poor child squeaks instead of sinning all I could think of this morning was a little mouse caught in a trap when she could not see she does actually squeak and some of her low notes although of course she is only a child she has never attempted much promise to be very good she will have to squeak for all I can see said Miss Parmalee it looks to me like one of those situations that no human being can change for better or worse I suppose you're right said madam but it is most unfortunate and mrs. wheeler is such a superior woman and amelia is her only child and this is such a very subtle and regrettable affair well we have to leave a great deal to Providence yes City mr. Parmalee she could only get angry when she is called copycat his Parmalee laughed and so did miss Acton then all the ladies had their cups refilled and left Providence to look out for poor little Amelia wheeler in her mad pursuit of her ideal in the shape of another little girl possessed of the exterior graces what she had not mean time the little copycat had never been so happy she began to improve in her looks also her grandmother wheeler noticed it first and spoke of it to grandmother stark that child may not be so plain after all she said I looked at her this morning when she started for school and I thought for the first time that there was a little resemblance to the wheelers grandmother stark sniffed but she looked gratified I have been noticing it for some time she said but as for looking like the wheelers I thought this morning for a minute that I actually saw my poor dear husband looking at me out of that blessed child's eyes grandmother wheeler smiled her little aggravating curved pink smile but even mrs. diantha began to notice the change for the better in Amelia she however attributed it to an increase of appetite and a system of deep breathing which she had herself taken up and enjoyed Amelia to follow amelia was following Lily Jennings instead but that her mother did not know still she was gratified to see a meal little sallow cheeks taking on pretty curves in a soft bloom and she was more inclined to listen when grandmother wheeler adventured to approach the subject of Amelia satire Amelia would not be so bad looking if she were better dressed diantha said she diantha lifted her chin but she paid heed why does not Amelia dress perfectly well mother she inquired she dresses well enough but she needs more ribbons and ruffles I do not approve of so many ribbons and ruffles said mrs. diantha Amelia has perfectly need to fresh black or brown ribbons for her hair and ruffles are not sanitary ruffles are pretty and blue and pink are pretty colors now that Jennings girl looks like a little picture but that last speech of grandmother wheelers undid all the previous good mrs. diantha had an unacknowledged even to herself disapproval of mrs. Jennings which dated far back in the past for a reason which was quite unworthy of her and of her strong mind when she and Lily's mother had been girls she had seen miss Jennings look like a picture and had been perfectly well aware that she herself fell far short of an artist's ideal perhaps if mrs. stark had believed in ruffles and ribbons her daughter might have had a different mind when grandmother wheeler had finished her little speech with dignified serenity I do not myself approve of the way in which mrs. Jennings dresses her daughter she said she and I do not consider that the child presents to a practical observer as good in appearance as my Amelia grandmother wheeler had a temper it was a childish temper and soon over still a temper lowered said she if you mean to say that you think your poor little snipe of a daughter dressed like a little maid-of-all-work can compare with that lovely little lily Jennings who was dressed like a doll I do not wish that my daughter should be dressed like a doll said mrs. diantha coolly well she certainly isn't said grandmother wheeler nobody would ever take her for a doll as far as looks or rats are concerned she may be good enough I don't deny that amelia is a good little girl but her looks could be improved on looks matter very little said mrs. diantha they matter very much so grandmother wheeler pugnaciously her blue eyes taking on a peculiar opaque glint as always when she lost her temper very much indeed but looks can't be helped if poor little Amelia wasn't born with pretty looks she wasn't but she wasn't born with such ugly clothes she might be better dressed I dress my daughter as I consider best said mrs. diantha then she left the room grandmother wheeler SAT for a few minutes her blue eyes opaque her little pink lips a straight line then suddenly her eyes lit and she smiled poor diantha she said I remember how Henry used to like Lily Jennings his mother before she married the diantha sour grapes hang high but grandmother wheelers beautiful old face was quite soft and gentle from her heart she pitied at the reacher after those high hanging grapes for mrs. diantha had been very good to her then grandmother wheeler who had a mild persistency not evident to a casual observer began to make plans and lay plots she was resolved diantha or not that her granddaughter her son's child should have some fine feathers the little conference had taken place in her own room enlarge sunny one with a little storeroom opening from it presently grandmother wheeler bros entered the store room and began rummaging in some old trunks then followed days of secret work grandmother wheeler had been noted as a fine needle woman and her hand had not yet lost its cunning she had one of Amelia's ugly Williams purloined from a closet her sighs and she worked two or three dainty wonders she took grandmother stark into her confidence sometimes the two ladies by reason of their age found it possible combine their good results your daughter diantha is one woman a thousand said grandmother wheeler diplomatic alee one day but she never did care much for clothes diantha returned grandmother stark with a suspicious glance always realize that clothes were not the things that mattered and of course she is Right Said grandmother wheeler piously your diantha is one woman in a thousand if she cared as much for fine clothes as some women I don't know where we should all be it would spoil poor little Amelia yes it would a scented grandmother start nothing spoils a little girl more than always to be thinking about her clothes yes i was looking at Amelia the other day and thinking how much more sensible she appeared in her plane gingham than Lily Jennings in all her freckles and ribbons even if people were all noticing lily and praising her inside to myself a little difference such things really make even if our dear Amelia does stand to one side and nobody notices her what real matter is it grandmother wheeler was inwardly chuckling as she spoke grandmother stark was at once alert do you mean to say that amelia is really not taken so much notice of because she dresses plainly said she you don't mean that you don't know it as observant as you are you plied grandmother wheeler diantha ought not to let it go as far as that said grandmother stark grandmother wheeler looked at her clearly are you looking to me like that well I did something I feared I ought not to have done and I didn't know what to do but you're speaking so makes me wonder wonder what then grandmother wheeler went to her little storeroom and emerged bearing a box she displayed to the contents three charming little white frocks fluffy with lace and embroidery did you make them yes I did I couldn't help it I thought of a dear child or wore them it would be some comfort to know that they were in the house that one needs a broad blue sash said grandmother stark grandmother wheeler laughed she took her in picasa t easily I had to use what I had said she I will get a blue sash for that one it's a grandmother stark and a pink sash for that and a flowered one for that of course that will make all the difference said grandmother wheeler those beautiful sashes will really make the dresses I will get them so grandmother start with decision I will go right down to man's brother store now and get them then I will make the bows and sew them on replied grandmother wheeler happily if the bus happened that little Amelia wheeler was possessed of three beautiful dresses although she did not know it for a long time neither of the two conspiring grandmother's dared divulge the secret mrs. diantha was a very determined woman and even her own mother stood somewhat in awe of her therefore little Amelia went to school during the spring term soberly clad as ever and even on the festive last or nothing better than a new blue gingham made too long to allow for shrinkage and new blue hair ribbons the two grandmother's almost wept in secret conclave over the lovely frocks which were not warned I respect diantha said grandmother wheeler you know that she is one woman in a thousand but I do hate they have that poor child go to school today with so many to look at her and she dressed so unlike all the other little girls diantha has got so much sense it makes her blind and deaf declared grandmother start I call it a shame if she is my daughter and you don't venture grandmother stark reddened she did not like to own her daughter I venture if that is all she said tartly you don't suppose I am afraid of diantha but she would not let Amelia wear one of the dresses anyway and I don't want the child made any unhappier than she is well I will admit we my grandmother wheeler if poor Amelia knew she had these beautiful dresses and could not wear them then she might feel worse than wearing that only genome gingham fairly snorted grandmother start I cannot see why diantha think so so much a game it shrinks anyway poor little Amelia did undoubtedly suffer on that last day when she SAT among the others game and clad and looked down at her own common little skirts she was very glad however that she had not been chosen to do any of the special things which would have necessitated her appearance upon the little flower decorated platform she did not know of the conversation between madam and her two assistants I would have Amelia recite a little verse or two said madam but how can I madam adored dress and had a lovely new one of sheer dull blue stuff that touches of silver for the last day yes agreed mr. Parmalee that poor child is sensitive and for her to stand on a platform in one of those playing games would be too cruel then a two said miss Acton she would recite her versus exactly like Lily Jennings she can make her voice exactly like Lily's now then everybody would laugh and Amelia would not know why she would think they were laughing at her dress and that would be dreadful if Amelia's mother could have heard that conversation everything would have been different although it is puzzling to decide in what way it was the last of the summer vacation in early September just before school began that a climax came to Amelia's idle tree an imitation of Lily the jenningses had not gone away that summer so the two little girls had been thrown together a good deal mrs. diantha never went away during the summer she considered it her duty to remain at home and she was quite pitiless to herself when it came to a matter of duty however as a result she was quite during the last of August and the first of September the season had been unusually hot and mrs. diantha had not spared herself from her duty on account of the heat she would have scorned herself if she had done so she could not strong minded as she was I've heard something like a heap frustration after a long walk under a burning Sun nor weeks of confinement and idleness in her room afterward when September came in a night or two of comparative coolness she felt stronger still she was compelled by most unusual weakness to refrain from her energetic trot in her duty baths and then it was that something happened one afternoon Lilly fluttered over to amelia's and amelia ever on the watch spied her may I go on can see Lily she asked grandmother start yes but don't talk under the windows your mother is asleep Emilio ran out I declare said grandmother stark to grandmother wheeler I was half a mind to tell that child to wait a minute and slip on one of those pretty dresses I hate to have her go on the street in that old game with that Jennings girl dressed up like a wax doll and now poor diantha is so weak and asleep it would not have annoyed her I know it grandmother start looked at grandmother wheeler of the two she possessed a greater share of original sin compared from the size of her soul moreover she felt at liberty to circumvent her own daughter whispering she unfolded a daring scheme to the other grandma who stared at her a ghast a second out of her lovely blue eyes then laughed softly very well said she if you dare I rather think I dare said grandmother stark isn't diantha wheeler my own daughter grandmother stark had grown much bolder since mrs. diantha had been ill meantime lily and Amelia walked down the street until they came to a certain bacon lot intersected by a footpath between tall feathery grasses in goldenrod and aster and milkweed they entered the footpath and swarms of little butterflies rose around them and once in a while a little protesting bumblebee I'm afraid we will be stunned by the beans said nyonya bumblebee is never sting said lily and Amelia believed her then the footpath ended when the footpath ended there was the riverbank the two little girls sat down under a clump of brook willows and talked while the river full of green and blue and golden lights slipped past them and never stopped then Lily proceeded to unfold a plan which was not philosophical but not only ingenious by this time Lily knew very well that Amelia admired her and imitated her as successfully as possible considering the drawback of dress and looks when she had finished amelia was quite pale I am afraid I'm afraid Lily said she what of my mother will find out besides I am afraid it isn't right whoever told you it was wrong nobody ever did admit it Amelia well then you haven't any reason to think in his said Lily triumphantly and how was your mother ever going to find out I don't know isn't she ill in her room and does she ever come to kiss you goodnight the way my mother does when she is well no admitted Amelia and neither of your grandmother's grandmother stark would think it was silly like mother and grandmother wheeler can't go up and down stairs very well I can't see but you were perfectly safe I'm the only one that runs any risk at all I run a great deal of risk but I am willing to take it said Lily with a virtuous error Lily had a small but rather involved scheme simply for her own ends which did not seem to call for much virtue but rather the contrary Lily had overheard Arnold Karis and Johnny Trumbull in Italy Westminster and another boy Jim Patterson planning a most delightful affair which even in the cases of the boys was fraught with danger secrecy and doubtful restitute not one of the four boys had had a vacation from the village that summer and their young minds had become charged as it were with a it's a revolution and rebellion Jim Patterson the son of the rector and of them all the most venturesome had planned to take he called it take he meant to pay for it anyway he said as soon as he could shake enough money out of his nickel savings bank one of his father's Plymouth Rock chickens and have a chicken rose in the woods back of dr. trumble's he had planned for Johnny to take some years of porn suitable for roasting from his father's garden for lead to take some cookies out of a stone jar in his mother's pantry and for Arnold to take some potatoes then they for would steal forth under cover of night build a campfire roast their spoils and a feast Lily had resolved to be of the party she resorted to know open methods the stones of the fighting suffragettes were not for her little honey sweet curled and ruffled darling rather the time-worn if not time sanctified weapons of her sex little instruments of wiles and tiny dodges and tiny subterfuges which would serve her best you know she said to Amelia you don't look like me of course you know that and that can't be helped but you do walk like me and talk like me you know that because they call you copycat yes I know said poor Amelia I don't mind if they call you hobby had said Lily magnanimously I don't mind a bit but you see my mother always comes upstairs to kiss me good night after I have gone to bed and tomorrow night she has a dinner party and she will surely be a little late and I can't manage unless you help me I will give one of my white dresses for you and all you have to do is climb out of your window into that cedar tree you know you can climb down that because you are so afraid of burglars climbing up and you can slip on my dress you had better throw it out of the window and not try to climb in it because my dress is care awful easy and we might get caught that way then you just sneak down to our house and I shall be outdoors and when you go upstairs if the door should be open and anybody should call you can answer just like me and I have found that like curly wig Aunt Laura wore when she and her head shaved after she had a fever and you just put that on and go to bed and mother will never know when she kisses you goodnight then after the roast I will go to your house and if I'm up that tree and go to bed in your room and I will have one of your gingham dresses to wear and very early in the morning I will get up and you get up and the both of us can get down the back stairs without being seen and run home amelia was almost weeping it was her worship to Lily's plan but she was horribly scared I don't know she faltered don't know you've got to you don't love me one single bit or you wouldn't stop to think about whether you don't know it was the world old argument which floors love Amelia succumbed the next evening a frightened little girl clad in one of Lily Jennings white embroidered frocks was racing to the jenningses house and another little girl nan all frightened but enjoyed the stimulus of mischief and unwanted pneus was racing to the woods behind dr. trumble's house and that little girl was clad in one of Amelia wheelers games but the plan went all awry Lily waited snuggled up behind an alder bush and the boys came one by one and she heard this whispered although there was no necessity for whispering Jim Patterson where's that hen couldn't get her grabbed her and all her tail feathers came out in a bunch right in my hand and she swamped so father heard he was in his study writing his sermon and he came out and if I hadn't hid behind the chicken coop and then Ron I couldn't have got here but I can't see as you've got any corn Johnny Trumbull couldn't every single ear was cooked for dinner I couldn't bring any cookies either suddenly Westminster there weren't any cookies in the jar and I couldn't bring the potatoes because the outside cellar door was locked said Arnold Paris I had to go down the back stairs and out the south door and the inside cellar door opens out of our dining room and I daren't go in there then we might as well go home said Johnny Trumbull if I had you Jim Patterson I would have brought that old hand if her tail feathers had come out seems to me you scare awful easy guess if you had heard her squawk said Jim resentfully you want to try to lick me come on Jimmy Trumbull yes you don't dares call me scared again Johnny I'd him standing there in the gloom jim was not large but very wiry and the ground was not suited for combat Johnny although a victor would probably go home considerably the worst in appearance and he could anticipate the consequences where his father to encounter him shucks said Johnny Trumbull of the final Trumbull family and Madam's exclusive school shucks who wants your old hen we had chicken for dinner anyway said ah no para we did and corn sadly we did said Jim Lilly stepped forth from the older bush if said she I were a boy and had started to have a chicken roast I would have had a chicken roast but every boy even the valiant Johnny Trumbull had gone in a mad scatter the sudden apparition of a girl was too much for their nerves they never even knew who the girl was although little Arnold careth said she had looked to him like copycat but the others scouted the idea Lily Jennings made the best of her way out of the wood across lots to the road she was not in a particularly enviable case Amelia wheeler was presumably in her bed and she saw nothing for it but to take the difficult way to Amelia's lily Tory great rent in the kingdom going up the cedar tree but that was nothing to what followed she entered through Amelia's window her prim little room to find herself confronted by Amelia's mother in a wrapper and her two grandmother's grandmother stark had over her arm a beautiful white embroidered dress the two old ladies had entered the room in order to lay the white dress on a chair and take away the melius gingham and there was no Amelia mrs. diantha had heard the commotion and had risen thrown on her rapper income her mother had turned upon her it is all your fault diantha she had declared my fault echoed mrs. diantha bewildered where is Amelia we don't know said grandmother stark but you have probably driven her away from home by your cruelty cruelty yes cruelty what right had you to make that poor child look like a fright so people laughed at her we have made her some dresses that looked decent and had come here to leave them and to take away those old gingham things that look as if she lived in the owns house and leave these show she would either have to wear them or go without when we found she had gone it was at that crucial moment that Lily entered by way of the window here she is now shrieked grandmother stark miglia where then she stopped short everybody stared at Lily's beautiful face suddenly gone white for once Lily was frightened she lost all self-control she began to sob she could scarcely tell the absurd story for sobs but she told every word then with a sudden boldness she too turned on mrs. diantha they call poor Amelia copycat said she and I don't believe she would ever have tried so hard to look like me only my mother dresses me so I look nice and you sent Amelia to school looking awfully said Lily then Lily sobbed again my amelia is in your house as I understand said mrs. diantha in an awful voice yes ma'am let me go said mrs. diantha violently to grandmother Stark who tried to restrain her let me go mrs. diantha dressed herself in march down the street dragonlily after her the little girl had to trot to keep up with the tall woman strides and all the way she wept it was to Lily's mother's everlasting discredit in mrs. diantha's opinion but to lilius wonderful relief that when she heard the story standing in the hall in her lovely dinner dress with the strains of music floating from the drawing-room and cigar smoke floating from the dining room she laughed when Lily said and there wasn't even any chicken roast mother she nearly had hysterics if you think this is a laughing matter mrs. Jennings I do not said mrs. antha and again her dislike and sorrow at the sight of that sweet mirthful face was over her it was a face to be loved and hers was not why I went upstairs and kissed the child good night and never suspected laughed Lily's mother I got aunt Laura's curly light wing for her explained lily and mrs. Jennings laughed again it was not long before Amelia in her gingham went home led by her mother who was trembling with weakness now this is diantha did not scold she did not speak but Amelia felt with Wonder her little hand held very tenderly by her mother's long fingers when at last she was undressed and in bed mrs. diantha looked very pale kissed her and so did both grandmothers Amelia being very young and very tired went to sleep she did not know that that night was to mark a sharp turn in her whole life thereafter she went to school dressed like the best and her mother pended her as nobody had ever known her mother could pad it was not so long afterward that Amelia out of her own improvement in appearance developed a little stamp of individuality one day lily wore a white frock with blue ribbons and Amelia wore one with coral pink it was a particular day in school there was company and he was served I told you I was going to wear blue ribbons Lily whispered to Amelia Amelia smiled lovingly back at her yes I know but I thought I would wear pink end of the copycat by Mary he Wilkins Freeman