“Good,” she said. “Who wants to be scruffy little brat of a boy when you can be a pretty little girl?” she asked. Billy didn’t reply. Even if he wanted to he didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t anger her. Alice emerged wearing a plain brown frock with long sleeves and a lace-trimmed yolk. Both Billy and Mrs Postlethwaite looked her up and down and Billy couldn’t help but judge her dress against his own. He admitted to no one but himself that he preferred his own. “I take it you’ve done cross stitch Alice?” Mrs Postlethwaite asked.
“Yes, Miss,” Alice replied. Their host presented them with a book full of cross-stitch patterns, a couple of frames, canvases, and a basket full of wool and suggested they occupy themselves doing some craft.