"Nonsense!" "Yes," agreed Sissy, sweetly. "But we'll go if you say so. I won't need any dress, and--" she hurried on as he raised his head belligerently, "neither will Irene. Isn't that lucky? My brown will do, though the over-skirt does jump up when I dance and show the red sham underneath; but--" "What are you bothering me about, then?" he demanded indignantly, throwing down his cards. "Gloves," she said gently. Then quickly, before he could speak, "That's all. They don't cost very much. Or, I'll tell you,"--her voice grew suddenly most cheerful, as though she had made a discovery that must delight him,--"we can wear mitts. I don't mind--and neither will Split. Just a pair of blue lace ones for her and pink for me, or--or--" her voice wavered, but she was ready to pay the price, "just blue ones for Split, father." He put his hand in his pocket. "Why not just pink ones for Sissy?" he asked almost good-naturedly. Sissy shook her head, but the red rushed to her cheeks. She had won! "Are you sure you need them?" he asked cautiously in the very act of bestowal. "Sure! Sure!" she cried, throwing her arms gratefully about his neck before she danced to the door. "But you're going, too?" he called after her. "All right, then. Make Irene behave. She's an ox--that girl." An ox, of course, interpreted variously according to Madigan's mood and the correlating circumstances, signified this time an indiscreet, pleasure-mad child. Sissy understood, and she blushed for her sister. In fact, she was always blushing for her sister. She considered it to be her duty formally and officially to disavow her senior. So reprehensible did she feel Split's conduct to be that some one must blush for it; and as blushing was not Split's forte, Sissy did it for her.