All felt desirous to remove from her eyebrows the mass of straight black hair, which she considered extremely becoming, but which they regarded as a great disfigurement to her really handsome face.  However, no one expressed such an opinion, by word or look.  They had previously agreed not to manifest any distaste for Indian fashions.

Mr. Wharton, apart, remarked to Charles,—­

“When you were a boy, you said Moppet would be pretty, if she wore her hair like folks.  It was true then, and is still more true now.”

“Let us have patience, and we shall see her handsome face come out of that cloud by-and-by,” rejoined Uncle George.  “If we prove that we love her, we shall gain influence over her.  Wild-flowers, as well as garden-flowers, grow best in the sunshine.”

Emma tried to conform to the wishes of the family in her behavior; but she did not feel quite sure that she should ever be able to love the young Indian.  It was not agreeable to have a sister who was clothed in a blanket and wore her hair like a Shetland pony.  Cousin Bessie thought stockings, long skirts, and a gown ought to be procured for her immediately.  Her father said,—­

“Let me tell you, Bessie, it would be far more rational for you to follow her fashion about short skirts.  I should like to see you step off as she does.  She couldn’t move so like a young deer, if she had long petticoats to trammel her limbs.”

But Bessie confidentially remarked to Cousin Emma that she thought her father had some queer notions; to which Emma replied, that, for her part, she thought A-lee-lah ought to dress “like folks,” as Charley used to say, when he was a boy.  They could not rest till they had made a dress like their own, and had coaxed William to persuade her to wear it.  In a tone of patient resignation, she at last said, “Me try.”  But she was evidently very uncomfortable in her new habiliments.  She often wriggled her shoulders, and her limbs were always getting entangled in the folds of her long, full skirts.  She finally rebelled openly, and, with an emphatic “Me no like,” cast aside the troublesome garments and resumed her blanket.

“I suppose she felt very much as I should feel in tight boots and white kid gloves,” said Uncle George.  “You will drive them away from us, if you interfere with them so much.”

It was agreed that Aunt Mary would understand how to manage them better than the young folks did; and the uncivilized couple were accordingly invited to stay at their uncle’s house.  Emma cordially approved of this arrangement.  She told Bessie that she did hope Aunt Mary would make them more “like folks,” before the Oberlin student visited the neighborhood again; for she didn’t know what he would think of some of their ways.  Bessie said,—­

“I feel as if I ought to invite William and his wife to dine with us; but if any of my husband’s family should come in, I should feel so mortified to have them see a woman with a blanket over her shoulders sitting at my table!  Besides, they like raw meat, and that is dreadful.”