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"My mother will have her little bouts of fun"

"The two of them must have been holy terrors in their day" Primrose puffed out her cheeks at the idea

"If that book is any indication, they were certainly so – probably unholy" Rue paused to consider Aunt Ivy was so silly andShe snorted "Honeysuckle Isinglass indeed"

Rue picked up the slih it "The a peony of beauty sur undulations of the silken sapphire depths All unobserved, our heroine wanders along the wave-licked shores, a young lady with a soul overfilled with senti before her, her feet attired in Mademoiselle Membrainoux’s finest kid slippers The slush slush slush of the sparkling iridescent waves ed heart––" Rue had to stop "Crikey, Pri into her hand "I know It’s so bad"

Why, wondered Rue, has a supposed acquaintance naiven me a badly written slim travelto do withstolen by a lioness? And who’s Goldenrod? Rue snapped the book shut and turned it about in her hands, shaking out the pages, hoping for a hiddenthere, not even a suspicious stain

"I should read it for clues but, Prim, I don’t think I could bear it"

Prim said, "I do understand And they are unfortunately ubiquitous I mean, Queen Mums insisted they print sied by the critics, they were somewhat taken to heart by those who eschewed the intellectual set Now all the very worst libraries have one I can’t believe you haven’t encountered it before"

"Neither can I I can only speculate thatuistic contamination"

"Why did you buy it?" Priiven toand looked up "You have other old friends?"

"Apparently This one was so old I don’t remember her Gave me her first name only – Anitra"

"How terribly indelicate"

"You’re telling me Then she handed reed Primrose "Was that the reason you were late back to the ship? What happened to the lioness?"

"Well, that resulted in a different mysterious female Name of Miss Sekhmet I followed the cat into a shack, and then a beautiful woave me back my parasol, and warnedback to the ship, this Anitra person accosted me in public, also swathed in fabric, said that Goldenrod sent her with that book And that was it"

"Pull the other one"

"If I were going to fib, wouldn’t I come up with a better story?"

Pri the bodice of her travelling suit, carefully checking all the buttons "I suppose so But what does it mean?"