“I think I shall send Anna Mary with you to do some of your shopping, Beth,” said Aunt Alida. “She can take you to places where you can buy your serviceable articles for the people at home who have, as you said, ‘no money,’ and where you can find the rosy evening gown at lower prices than in this neighborhood. It will not matter if the dancing gown is not the very last utterance of fashionable magnificence, will it, dear?” “No, indeed!” cried Beth. “I’ve been wondering if there weren’t any places in New York where they kept bargains. I think a bargain evening dress would be just the thing for a lame girl who wouldn’t ever wear it, don’t you?” “I really do,” smiled Aunt Alida. She laid a crisp bill on the salver the waiter offered her and arose without waiting for him to return with change. Nothing so impressed and distressed little Beth’s frugal mind as the reckless way in which her aunt and uncle left change to be gathered up by those who served them in public places. “Now, girleens, no more shopping to-day!” announced Aunt Alida as they entered the car. “I am going to a tea this afternoon and this evening to the opera, so I must rest and dress for the tea. Natalie, you and Alys and Beth had better ride; the afternoon is beautiful. I hope Dirk may be found to join you. We’ll drive around by the stable and tell Tim to be ready to go with you at--half-past three.” Aunt Alida consulted the tiny watch on her wrist before mentioning the hour. “That’s good! I’ve been wishing for Trump, Aunt Alida,” cried Beth. “I’ve no doubt he wishes for you, or at least would like to go out,” said Aunt Alida. “Beth, what else do you wish for? You are too big to write letters to Santa Claus, so you must be big enough to consult on your own Christmas presents.” “Aunt Alida, there isn’t a thing, not one thing that I really want,” declared Beth earnestly. “There are lots of things I see that I’d like to have when I see them, but I see so many that I forget what they were the next minute. I honestly believe I’d like a doll that was very, very beautiful. I always thought there must be a perfectly lovely doll in the world, not like any I ever saw. But I couldn’t play with her if I had her, because when you get old for dolls they seem to stand off and not play with you. I’m just crazy about them, but I don’t know what to do with them the way I did. Janie could help me, but I couldn’t do it alone. So I don’t need even the doll. It is just like ‘Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber’; don’t you know? ‘All my wants are well supplied.’ And they certainly are.” “Couldn’t Alys and I play dolls with you?” asked Natalie.