There 's Mrs. Murphy . She never had a proposal in her life till she was forty , and then she had three in the one week , and she was so flustered she took the wrong one and has been sorry ever since . Do you see what it means now ? '' `` Yes , I guess so , '' said Cecily somewhat doubtfully . Later on we heard her imparting her newly acquired knowledge to Felicity in the pantry . '' ` It never rains but it pours ' means that nobody wants to marry you for ever so long , and then lots of people do . '' CHAPTER XIV . FORBIDDEN FRUIT We were all , with the exception of Uncle Roger , more or less grumpy in the household of King next day . Perhaps our nerves had been upset by the excitement attendant on Jimmy Patterson 's disappearance . But it is more likely that our crankiness was the result of the supper we had eaten the previous night . Even children can not devour mince pie , and cold fried pork ham , and fruit cake before going to bed with entire impunity . Aunt Janet had forgotten to warn Uncle Roger to keep an eye on our bedtime snacks , and we ate what seemed good unto us . Some of us had frightful dreams , and all of us carried chips on our shoulders at breakfast . Felicity and Dan began a bickering which they kept up the entire day . Felicity had a natural aptitude for what we called `` bossing , '' and in her mother 's absence she deemed that she had a right to rule supreme . She knew better than to make any attempt to assert authority over the Story Girl , and Felix and I were allowed some length of tether ; but Cecily , Dan , and Peter were expected to submit dutifully to her decrees . In the main they did ; but on this particular morning Dan was plainly inclined to rebel . He had had time to grow sore over the things that Felicity had said to him when Jimmy Patterson was thought lost , and he began the day with a flatly expressed determination that he was not going to let Felicity rule the roost . It was not a pleasant day , and to make matters worse it rained until late in the afternoon . The Story Girl had not recovered from the mortifications of the previous day ; she would not talk , and she would not tell a single story ; she sat on Rachel Ward 's chest and ate her breakfast with the air of a martyr .
After breakfast she washed the dishes and did the bed-room work in grim silence ; then , with a book under one arm and Pat under the other , she betook herself to the window-seat XXXXX the upstairs hall , and would not be lured from that retreat , charmed we never so wisely .
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