`Laurie Laurence - what an odd name!'

`My first name is Theodore, but I don't like it, for the fellows called me Dora, so I made them say Laurie instead.'

`I hate my name, too - so sentimental! I wish everyone would say Jo, instead of Josephine. How did you make the boys stop calling you Dora?'

`I thrashed 'em.'

`I can't thrash Aunt March, so I suppose I shall have to bear it'; and Jo resigned herself with a sigh.

`Do you like parties?' she asked in a moment.

`Sometimes; you see I've been abroad a good many years, and haven't been in company enough yet to know how you do things here.'

`Abroad!' cried Jo. `Oh, tell me about it! I love dearly to hear people describe their travels.'

Laurie didn't seem to know where to begin; but Jo's eager questions soon set him going, and he told her how he had been at school in Vevey, where the boys never wore hats, and had a fleet of boats on the lake, and for holiday fun went walking trips about Switzerland with their teachers.

`Don't I wish I'd been there!' cried Jo. `Did you go to Paris?'

`We spent last winter there.'

`Can you talk French?'

`We were not allowed to speak anything else at Vevey.'

`Do say some! I can read it, but can't pronounce.'

`Quel nom a cette jeune demoiselle en les pantoufles jolies?' said Laurie, good-naturedly.

`How nicely you do it! Let me see - you said, "Who is the young lady in the pretty slippers," didn't you?'

`Oui, mademoiselle.'

`It's my sister Margaret, and you knew it was! Do you think she is pretty?'

`Yes; she makes me think of the German girls, she looks so fresh and quiet.'

Jo quite glowed with pleasure at this boyish praise of her sister, and stored it up to repeat to Meg.

Both peeped and criticized and chatted, till they felt like old acquaintances. Laurie's bashfulness soon wore off; for Jo's gentlemanly demeanour amused and set him at his ease, and Jo was her merry self again, because her dress was forgotten, and nobody lifted their eyebrows at her.

She liked the `Laurence boy' better than ever, and took several good looks at him, so that she might describe him to the girls; for they had no brothers, very few male cousins, and boys were almost unknown creatures to them.

`Curly black hair; brown skin; big, black eyes; handsome nose; fine teeth; small hands and feet; taller than I am, very polite for a boy, and altogether jolly. Wonder how old he is?'


  By PanEris using Melati.

Previous chapter/page Back Home Email this Search Discuss Bookmark Next chapter/page
Copyright: All texts on Bibliomania are © Bibliomania.com Ltd, and may not be reproduced in any form without our written permission. See our FAQ for more details.