"Why should I, dear child? Such a privilege. Most kind of them to have given me the opportunity. Old clothes! I don't suppose you ever _have_ old clothes, Miss Vanna--they always look so fresh and new. I like to see a girl in pretty clothes. When I was young, shallis were in fashion. I don't suppose you ever saw shallis--very stiff, not nearly so graceful as your delaines. A dear lady gave me a brown shalli, trimmed with pipings. Brown was never my colour, but it wore for years--so very kind. Nowadays I have to wear wool for my poor bones. Wool always did irritate my skin. It took me weeks to get accustomed to sleep in blankets. I used to lie awake at nights tossing from side to side, and thinking of all the poor creatures who had no warm coverings-- and mine the very best Whitney, the ones from the spare room, Jean, with the blue stripes. Mrs Goring said I was to have them. I'm sure if I'd been the Queen--" "Oh, it's wonderful to think of. Real Whitney blankets with blue stripes, on which to toss about and groan! What luck you have, Miggles, and how thankful you ought to be that you have bones to _ache_. If you hadn't had that bad feverish attack, you might have been left stranded with your own bedding. It is piteous to think of." Miggles shook her large, ugly head with elephantine playfulness. "Naughty child! naughty child! You are laughing at me, I can see. It is very painful, especially during the night, and I used to be so proud of my hands. I've had to give up wearing my turquoise ring, the knuckles are so enlarged. That really was a trial; but when you think what other people have to bear... There's that poor man at Oxford Circus, who wheels about on a board. I always wonder if there are any legs inside his trousers, they lie so very flat; but of course one couldn't ask. How monotonous it would be, my dear, to sit on a board from morning till night. When I thought of that, it seemed so foolish to fret about a ring... Your dear mother gave it to me one Christmas, because I had such a desire to possess a ring. It was the only one I ever had." "Dear Miggles," cried Jean fondly, "I wonder you didn't have a dozen. I wonder that every man you met didn't press one upon you. They would have done so, if they had known what was good for them. You would have made the dearest wife!" Miggles smiled appreciatively.