Ariel was slipping the green frock over her head. Anne whirled suddenly around on her and two brown eyes, for the moment open and even naïve in their expression, looked her over. What they saw was a thin face with rather narrow, rather light eyes and coral-faint lips just then emerging from the green cloud of the dinner frock.

?Hello, Mermaid,? she smiled. ?You look just like one. What do ????? I look like? Don?t be afraid to say.? But, Ariel, looking into the friendly face, had already forgotten the ugly dolls.

Far away, deep at the heart of the house, three musical notes sounded. ?That?s the dinner gong. And we?re both of us late. You must think it up and tell me later, what I look like. Appease my mummy. That?s a duck. She hates unpunctuality. Tell her we got so interested in each other we forgot the time.?