CHAPTER XV “AND SEE MY SLATE¹”
“WAS Towsle your very own dog?” asked Polly breathlessly.
“Yes, Sister’s and mine,” said Miss Parrott. “You see one day he belonged to me, and the next to her.
And one night he slept on the foot of her bed, and the next on mine. And he never made a mistake—
when he saw us get into our nightgowns.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Polly, clasping her hands. David crowded up closely, almost forgetting the precious
book in his hands. To own a dog, and to have him sleep on your bed at night!
“Would you like to see a picture of Towsle?” asked Miss Parrott, with a keen look into each face.
“Oh, would you show it to us?” cried Polly eagerly.
Davie drew a long breath. It wasn’t necessary for him to ask, as long as Polly did.
“You hold the doll,” Miss Parrott laid Priscilla in Polly’s arm, “and stay there, children.”
So Polly and David waited by the big sofa and watched Miss Parrott go over to a cabinet on the wall.
And pretty soon back she came with an old-fashioned daguerreotype² in her hand.
“You see, Uncle John wanted to have our pictures taken, and we begged to have Towsle between us.
So there we are!”
Miss Parrott pushed up the little spring and there were two small girls in checked high-necked
dresses, with ruffles³ around the necks, and hair brushed back and held by round combs. A small
fuzzy-wuzzy dog with eyes like black shoe buttons sat primly⁴ up between the two.
Polly and David gazed perfectly⁵ absorbed at the picture. At last Miss Parrott asked, “Now which of
these two little girls do you think is my picture?”
“Were you ever a little girl?” It was impossible for David to keep from asking the question now,
although the instant it was out, he knew that a terrible blunder had been made.
“Oh, Davie!” exclaimed Polly, greatly mortified⁶.
“It’s no wonder that you ask, Davie,” Miss Parrott smiled at him, so he raised his head, “so many

分享到：