Dame Betsy had wished the oldest daughter to go with her sisters; but
she was rather indolent, so she dressed herself in her best, and sat
down on the bench beside the door, with a plate of honey-cakes of which
she was very fond. She held up her parasol to shield her face, and also
to display the parasol. It was covered with very bright green satin, and
had a wreath of pink roses for a border. The sun shone directly into the
cottage, and the row of pewter plates on the dresser glittered; one
could see them through the doorway. The front yard of Dame Betsy's
cottage was like a little grove with lemon-color and pink hollyhocks;
one had to look directly up the path to see the eldest daughter sitting
on the bench eating honey-cakes. She was a very homely girl. All Dame
Betsy's daughters were so plain and ill-tempered that they had no
suitors, although they walked abroad every day.
Dame Betsy placed her whole dependence upon the linen chests when she
planned to marry her daughters. At the right of her cottage stretched a
great field of flax that looked now like a blue sea, and it rippled like
a sea when the wind struck it. Dame Betsy and Dorothy made the flax into
linen for the daughters' dowries. They had already two great chests of
linen apiece, and they were to have chests filled until there were
enough to attract suitors. Every little while Dame Betsy invited all the
neighboring housewives to tea; then she opened the chests and unrolled
the shining lengths of linen, perfumed with lavender and rosemary.
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