228 



THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED. 



constantly in reply to the remarks which Armida Sophia did not 

 make. The dogs trotted along quietly, and Ethel and Lily looked 

 across the hedge in delight. 



" How well Armida holds herself! " said Lily. " She has real 

 dignity. Papa said so last night, when she fell into the jam, and 

 kept her back perfectly straight all the time. It is a great thing to 

 have a doll like that." 



"She needn't be quite so stiff to the Ambassador!" said Ethel. 

 " She seems to foi-get that he is third cousin to the emperor, and 

 that his pigtail is three times as long as himself." 



Lily was about to reply in defence of her beloved Armida Sophia, 

 when siiddenly — the cat ajDpeared! And then, all in a minute, 

 everything happened. The cat ran up a tree (doubtless with a 

 deep design), and the dogs ran after her; and the carriage caught 

 on some stones, and the wheel came off, and it tipped over, and 

 Armida Sophia was thrown out, and the Chinese Ambassador stood 

 on his head, and was nearly strangled with his pigtail. Ethel and 

 Lily shrieked and screamed; the dogs bai'ked and leaped at the 

 tree, and the designing cat mewed and shivered on the topmost 

 branch. But Armida Sophia lay on the grass and kept her back 

 perfectly straight. 



" I can die Avith dignity," she said, " and he will never know that 

 I could not speak Chinese." 



The Ambassador stood on his head, and tried to keep his eyes 

 from rolling out. " I can no longer nod my head in answer to hei 

 remarks," he said; " but it is true that she did not make any." 



