`` Well , there is no use sitting here sighing for the unattainable , '' she said , jumping up briskly . `` I 'd better be putting my grey matter into that algebra instead of wasting it plotting for a party dress that I certainly ca n't get . It 's a sad thing for a body to lack brains when she wants to be a teacher , is n't it ? If I could only absorb algebra and history as I can music , what a blessing it would be ! Come now , Dorrie dear , smooth that pucker out . Next year I shall be earning a princely salary , which we can squander on party gowns at will -- if people have n't given up inviting us by that time , in sheer despair of ever being able to conquer our exclusiveness . '' Penelope went off to her detested algebra with a laugh , but the pucker did not go out of Doris ' forehead . She wanted Penelope to go to that party . Penelope has studied so hard all winter and she has n't gone anywhere , thought the older sister wistfully . She is getting discouraged over those examinations and she needs just a good , jolly time to hearten her up . If it could only be managed ! But Doris did not see how it could . It took every cent of her small salary as typewriter in an uptown office to run their tiny establishment and keep Penelope in school dresses and books . Indeed , she could not have done even that much if they had not owned their little cottage . Next year it would be easier if Penelope got through her examinations successfully , but just now there was absolutely not a spare penny . `` It is hard to be poor . We are a pair of misfits , '' said Doris , with a patient little smile , thinking of Penelope 's uncultivated talent for music and her own housewifely gifts , which had small chance of flowering out in her business life . Doris dreamed of pretty dresses all that night and thought about them all the next day . So , it must be confessed , did Penelope , though she would not have admitted it for the world . When Doris reached home the next evening , she found Penelope hovering over a bulky parcel on the sitting-room table .
`` I 'm so glad you 've come , '' she said XXXXX an exaggerated gasp of relief .
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