"Shut up now till yer hear me, an' cross yerself, for I mane it." Such
was the warning from her mate.
"No; I say them to another lady--Our Lady."
"Oh gracious!" Freckles cried out under her breath and began to snicker.
"What lady?" The Marchioness looked astonished but intensely interested.
"The Holy Virgin. I'll bet she don't know nothin' 'bout Her," said
Flibbertigibbet in a triumphant aside to Freckles. The Marchioness' eyes
opened wider upon the two children across the way.
"That is the mother of Our Lord, isn't it?" she said in her dumb way.
The two children nodded; no words seemed to come readily just then, for
Alice Maud Mary had given them a surprise. They crossed themselves.
"I never thought of saying my prayers to His mother before, but I shall
now. He always had a mother, hadn't he?"
Flibbertigibbet could think of nothing to say in answer, but she did the
next best thing: she drew her rosary from under her dress waist and held
it up to the Marchioness who nodded understandingly and began to fumble
at her neck. In a moment she brought forth a tiny gold chain with a
little gold cross hanging from it. She held it up and dangled it before
the four astonished eyes opposite.
"Gee! Yer can't git ahead of _her_, an' I ain't goin' to try. She's just
a darlint." Flibbertigibbet's heart was very full and tender at that
moment; but she giggled at the next question.
"Do you know any boys?"
One finger was visible at the dormitory window. The Marchioness laughed
and after telling them she knew ever so many began to count on her
fingers for the benefit of her opposite neighbors.
"One, two, three, four, five," she began on her right hand--
"I don't believe her," said Freckles with a suspicious sniff.
Flibbertigibbet turned fiercely upon her. "I'd believe her if she said
she knew a thousand, so now, Margaret O'Dowd, an' yer hold yer tongue!"
she cried; but in reprimanding Freckles for her want of faith she lost
count of the boys.
"I must go now," said the Marchioness; "but when the drawing-room
downstairs is lighted, you look in--there'll be one boy there to dance
with me. Be sure you look." Suddenly the Marchioness made a sign that
both girls understood, although it was an extra one and the very
prettiest of all in the deaf-and-dumb alphabet of the affections: she
put her fingers to her lips and blew them a kiss.
"Ain't she a darlint!" murmured Flibbertigibbet, tossing the same sign
across the street. When the Marchioness had left the window, the two
girls spent the remaining minutes of their reward in planning how best
to see the dance upon which they had set their hearts. They thought of
all the places available, but were sure they would not be permitted to
occupy them. At last Flibbertigibbet decided boldly, on the strength of
a good conscience throughout one whole week, to ask at headquarters.
"I'm goin' straight to Sister Angelica an' ask her to let us go into the
chapel; it's the only place. Yer can see from the little windy in the
cubby-hole where the priest gits into his other clothes."