Then, after Aunt Nettie's, she planned one for
Marguerite. Marguerite was the hired girl, mulatto, and had the
racial passion for strong colour. So Missy conceived for her a
creation that would be at once satisfying to wearer and beholder.
How wonderful with one's own hands to be able to dispense pleasure!
Missy, working, felt a peculiarly blended joy; it is a
gratification, indeed, when a pleasing occupation is seasoned with
the fine flavour of noble altruism.
She hadn't yet thought of a theme for the Valedictory, and mother
was beginning to make disturbing comments about "this hat mania,"
when, by the most fortuitous chance, while she was working on
Marguerite's very hat--in fact, because she was working on it--she
hit upon a brilliantly possible idea for the Valedictory.
She was rummaging in a box of discarded odds and ends for
"trimmings." The box was in mother's store-closet, and Missy
happened to observe a pile of books up on the shelf. Books always
interested her, and even with a hat on her mind she paused a moment
to look over the titles. The top volume was "Ships That Pass in the
Night"--she had read that a year or so ago--a delightful book,
though she'd forgotten just what about.
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