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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22912-h.zip b/22912-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b50ddb --- /dev/null +++ b/22912-h.zip diff --git a/22912-h/22912-h.htm b/22912-h/22912-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..15f93da --- /dev/null +++ b/22912-h/22912-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8717 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Phyllis, by Dorothy Whitehill</title> +<style type="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 5%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.closing {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 1%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +.sidenote { left: 0%; + font-size: 65%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0%; + width: 17%; + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-left: 0%; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-top: 2%; + padding-bottom: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:hover {color:#ff0000; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 75%; } + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Phyllis, by Dorothy Whitehill, Illustrated by +Thelma Gooch</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Phyllis</p> +<p> A Twin</p> +<p>Author: Dorothy Whitehill</p> +<p>Release Date: October 7, 2007 [eBook #22912]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHYLLIS***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to Phyllis, "you are Don's girl."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="458" HEIGHT="650"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 458px"> +"It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to Phyllis, "you are Don's girl." +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PHYLLIS +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A TWIN +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +DOROTHY WHITEHILL +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATED BY +<BR> +THELMA GOOCH +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PUBLISHERS +<BR> +BARSE & HOPKINS +<BR> +NEW YORK, N. Y. ————— NEWARK, N. J. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1920, +<BR> +by +<BR> +BARSE & HOPKINS +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">PHYLLIS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">DON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">FRIENDS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">JANET ARRIVES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">SCHOOL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">TOM'S LAST DAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">DAPHNE'S ADVICE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">A CHANGE IN JANET</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">TWINS INDEED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE SCREENED WINDOW</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE MASQUERADE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHUCK GUESSES RIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A BLUE MONDAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">MISS PRINGLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">A WHITE MITTEN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">DON!</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">CHRISTMAS VACATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">PHYLLIS'S "MATH" PAPER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">THE FAREWELL PARTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">CONCLUSION</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to Phyllis. +"You<BR>are Don's girl" . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-053"> +"She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis +in all her life<BR>and she couldn't understand it" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-095"> +"Vers two of you," he said gravely +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-159"> +"Something white caught her eye" +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PHYLLIS, A TWIN +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PHYLLIS +</H3> + +<P> +A glorious autumn day spread its golden sunshine over the city. In the +parks the red leaves blazed under the deep blue sky, and the water in +the lakes sparkled over the reflections of the tall buildings mirrored +in their depths. People walked with a brisk step, as though they had +but suddenly awakened from a long drowsy sleep to the coolness of a +new, vigorous world. +</P> + +<P> +In a house just off Fifth Avenue, a short distance from Central Park, +all the windows were open to admit the dazzling sunshine. Soft white +curtains fluttered in the crisp breeze, and the rooms were flooded with +cool, yellow light. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis Page stood in the center of one of the rooms and looked +critically about her. There was no need of criticism, for it was as +nearly perfect as a room could be. +</P> + +<P> +The walls were hung with dainty pink and white paper. A bed of ivory +white, with carved roses at the head and covered with a sheer +embroidered spread, filled one corner; a tall chest of drawers stood +opposite, and a dressing-table with a triple mirror was placed between +the two windows. +</P> + +<P> +A little to one side of the open grate was a tiny table just large +enough to hold a bowl of pink roses. In all the room not a pin was out +of place. +</P> + +<P> +As Phyllis surveyed it all for perhaps the twentieth time that day, a +look of disappointment cast a momentary shadow over her usually merry +face. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't one single thing more to do," she complained. "Oh, dear, +I do hope she likes it." +</P> + +<P> +The suggestion of doubt made her hurry to her aunt's room on the floor +below. She found Miss Carter sitting before an open fire reading. +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie Mogs," she said, standing in the doorway, "suppose Janet +doesn't like it? The room, I mean." +</P> + +<P> +There was real concern in her voice, but in spite of it Miss Carter +laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Phyllis, you little goose, of course she'll like it. It's a dear +room, and it will just suit her exactly. What put such a ridiculous +notion into your head?" +</P> + +<P> +"But, Auntie Mogs, it's so awfully different from her own room," +Phyllis protested. "Perhaps she'll miss her big four-posted bed and +those ducky rag rugs. I would, I think,"—she hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter laughed again. +</P> + +<P> +"But that's exactly why Janet won't," she answered. "She has grown up +with all those lovely old things and she is used to them. She has +never seen anything like her new room and she will love it, I am sure. +Just as you loved the dear old room we had at her house, only of course +Janet won't go into such ecstasies as you did," she added with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +She pulled her niece down to the arm of her chair and stroked her soft +golden-brown hair. But Phyllis's leaf-brown eyes were still clouded +with doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"I want her to love it, Auntie Mogs," she said softly. "I want her to +love it, and I want her to be happy. But, oh, dear, suppose she isn't? +Suppose she is homesick for Old Chester. Perhaps she'll just hate the +city. If she does—oh, Auntie Mogs, if she does, I think I shall die." +</P> + +<P> +This time Miss Carter did not smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Phyllis dear," she said kindly, "do you love Janet?" +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis stared in amazement. "Love her? Why, of course I do! I +simply adore her. Isn't she my twin, and haven't I wanted her all my +life?" +</P> + +<P> +Her aunt nodded. "Then I wouldn't worry," she said kindly. "Poor +little Janet has had very little real love in her life, and I think she +will be very happy to be with people who do love her. You must +remember, dear, that although it was wonderful for you to find Janet, +it was just as wonderful for her to find you. I think it was even more +wonderful perhaps, for she was very lonely and you never were. Don't +worry about her not liking her room or the city. Just love her and her +happiness will take care of itself." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis jumped up and kissed her aunt. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Auntie Mogs, you always smooth things out," she exclaimed +joyfully. "They ought to make you President of the United States, they +really ought." +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy me, don't say it out loud,"—Miss Carter laughed. "Some one +might hear you and take your advice. Now, go out for a walk and come +back for tea with pink cheeks, you look tired out. And no matter how +much you worry and fume, Janet won't get here a minute sooner than +three o'clock on Wednesday." +</P> + +<P> +"And that's a whole day and a half off,"—Phyllis sighed as she left +the room to get ready for her walk. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter looked thoughtfully into the fire for many minutes after +she had gone. Her advice to love Janet was sound, but in her own heart +she knew that Phyllis's doubts were not without foundation. +</P> + +<P> +It had been just a little over a month ago that news had come from Tom, +Phyllis's older brother, that Mrs. Page had at last given in and was +willing to let Janet, whom she had cared for ever since she had been a +baby, see her twin sister Phyllis whom Miss Carter had brought up. +Many years before Mrs. Page had insisted that the twins be separated, +and because Phyllis bore her mother's name and Mrs. Page cruelly blamed +her daughter-in-law for the tragic accident that had resulted in both +parents' death, she had chosen to keep Janet with her. Thirteen years +had passed, and neither of the girls had dreamed of the other's +existence; perhaps they had dreamed, but they had never expected their +dream to come true, as it had only a short month ago when Phyllis, too +happy for words, had jumped off the train at Old Chester and into the +arms of her twin. +</P> + +<P> +It had been an exciting month as Miss Carter reviewed it, and with all +her heart she wanted the happiness that both girls looked forward to +for the coming winter to be assured. +</P> + +<P> +"If we can only keep Janet from feeling shy and different from the +other girls it will be all right," she said at last, and fell to gazing +into the fire again. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis, already well on her walk in the park, was busy with the same +thoughts. They were more concrete in form, but they amounted to the +same thing. She knew that she could be happy with Janet and keep her +from being homesick, but the thought of the other girls at school made +her uneasy. They were nice girls, all of them, and they were all fond +of Phyllis, and for her sake she knew they would be nice to her twin, +but Phyllis was not satisfied to let the matter drop there. She wanted +the girls to accept Janet on her own merit. +</P> + +<P> +The roguish autumn wind was playing tricks with the dead brown leaves, +swirling them about regardless of passers-by. One especially gusty +little gale made Phyllis duck her head so low that she did not gee +where she was going. She bumped into something small unexpectedly, and +an angry voice startled her out of her revery. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, I've lost it for good. Why don't you look what you're about? +Nurse says it's rude to jostle." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked down into two very angry blue eyes which, except for a +glimpse of ruddy cheeks almost hidden by a fur cap, were all that was +visible of the chubby face before her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DON +</H3> + +<P> +She tried hard not to smile. She loved and understood children, and +one of the chief reasons that they always returned her love with +interest was that she always took them seriously. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm so very sorry," she apologized humbly; "perhaps I can help you +find it again. What was it you lost?" +</P> + +<P> +"It were a brownie, a brown leaf brownie wiv crinkly legs, and I were +following it and now—" +</P> + +<P> +"And now I've chased it away. Isn't that a shame." Phyllis was very +serious. "But, do you know, I think it was the brownie's own fault. I +felt something a minute ago, just punching and kicking at my face, and +I thought perhaps it was an ordinary leaf but of course it couldn't +have been." +</P> + +<P> +"It were my brownie,"—the blue eyes wrinkled up at the end of an +impish grin. "Did it kick hard?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say it did. Look,"—Phyllis took her hand away from her eye. +It was quite red, for a bit of dust had inflamed it. +</P> + +<P> +The small boy gazed at it thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"He hadn't ought to have hurted you," he said solemnly. "He were a bad +brownie, I guess—so I'll go back to Nannie now." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Nannie?" Phyllis inquired, looking in vain for a nurse. The +park, as far as she could see, was deserted. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't matter," he said quite calmly. "I just remembered I'm +losted." He took Phyllis's outstretched hand and trotted along beside +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Losted?" she inquired in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, for quite a while, you see, Nannie talks and talks, and to-day +she were talking when the brownie came, and so I ran away. Nannie +doesn't know about brownies; just angels and devils." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis, in spite of herself, laughed. "But if Nannie has lost you, +won't she be worried?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +The small head nodded. "But she'll find me again," he assured her. +"She always does." +</P> + +<P> +"What's your name?" he demanded after a minute of silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Phyllis Page." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that all?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I have ever so many more names than that." +</P> + +<P> +"What are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Donald Francis MacFarlan Keith," he recited glibly; "but mostly I'm +called Don." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a very nice name," Phyllis agreed absently. She was still +looking for the lost Nannie. +</P> + +<P> +"And I live," Don continued proudly, "at number theventeen East +Theventy-theventh Street." The s's were almost too much for him but he +struggled manfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that's very near where I live!" Phyllis exclaimed, relief in her +voice. "I'll take you home, if we don't find Nannie." +</P> + +<P> +Don decided that that might be a good idea when, after a short hunt, +the missing Nannie was not discovered. +</P> + +<P> +He talked every step of the way home, about brownies, policemen, dogs +and fire engines, and Phyllis joined in the discussion whole heartedly +and agreed with him that a mounted policeman was indeed superior to a +banker on Wall Street. +</P> + +<P> +"For," Don explained, "that's what Nannie says my Daddy is, but I think +policemen is nicer." +</P> + +<P> +When they reached the house that Don pointed out as his, they hurried +up the steps, but before Phyllis could press the button the door opened +and a boy about her own age stood on the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon—" Phyllis began, but Don interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Chuck," he said seriously. "This girl bringed me home because +I got losted. She's only got two names but she's very nice; she knows +all about brownies—" +</P> + +<P> +"Don!"—the elder boy spoke so sharply that Phyllis was startled. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you very much," he continued, looking at her. "My small cousin +is always getting lost, I hope he hasn't bothered you." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit," Phyllis laughed. "We've had a fine time. I'm sorry if +you have been worried." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I haven't," the boy replied, "but I think his nurse has the whole +police force out looking for him. I knew he'd show up." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Don." Phyllis held out her hand, and Don put his little one +in it. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't get lost again, will you!" +</P> + +<P> +"It depends," Don replied gravely. "I can't promise. Anyway I'll look +for you every time I go to the park, and I'll ask the brownies about +you, 'cause I like you, oh, heaps better than Chuck. He doesn't know +anything about brownies." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked at the boy still standing in the doorway. He was +blushing. +</P> + +<P> +"How silly of him," she said to Don. "We do anyway, don't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Course," Don replied, and he insisted in spite of his cousin's +threats to watch and wave until Phyllis was out of sight. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis, hidden by the corner, paused to laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"That wasn't a very polite thing to say," she admitted. "I wonder what +made me think of it. He looked quite nice too. I wonder who he is?" +</P> + +<P> +Don for the moment was forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +As Phyllis hurried home, many were the thoughts that kept her company, +for the brisk wind had blown all her doubts away and only the joy of +Janet's arrival remained. +</P> + +<P> +People passing her saw a slender girl of thirteen with a delicate oval +face and well-shaped features framed in a wealth of gold brown hair. +Her eyes were soft and limpid, and they held an expression of +dreaminess in their depths. +</P> + +<P> +This afternoon, however, they sparkled and seemed to challenge the +whole world to find a happier mortal. +</P> + +<P> +She walked along, her step light as a fairy's, her skirts still blowing +at the whim of the breezes. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I will stop and see some of the girls," she said to herself, +but she changed her mind the next minute and went home instead. It was +like Phyllis to make up her mind one minute and change it the next. +</P> + +<P> +She found the house deserted on her return, and she had to go down to +the basement to get in. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's everybody?" she demanded of Lucy, the fat good-natured cook. +</P> + +<P> +"Out, my dear," Lucy told her. "Your aunt is out calling, and Annie +has gone to the grocery for me." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you forget to-night?" Phyllis teased, as she swung herself up +on the kitchen table. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Miss Phyllis, I couldn't help it this time, for how did I know +that the can of mustard, standing there on the shelf as big as you +please, was empty?" +</P> + +<P> +It was chronic with Lucy to forget things, and it was usually Phyllis +that went after them. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Lucy; it's hard luck. I don't see myself why those +everlasting cans don't tell you when they are empty; it would save my +steps, I know that." +</P> + +<P> +"Cans speak! Go way with you," Lucy replied in a gust of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis swung down off the table. +</P> + +<P> +"After two more days there'll be another me to go out and buy what you +forget to order," she said as she ran up the back stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Lucy watched her and then shook her head at the row of shining pans on +the wall opposite. +</P> + +<P> +"That, my dear, will never be," she said solemnly. "Look like you she +may and lucky she is to be so blest, but be like you, I beg to differ. +The dear Lord only made the one. Glory be," she added piously. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis, upstairs, was trying to think of something, no matter how +small, to do to improve Janet's room. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FRIENDS +</H3> + +<P> +"Well, dear?" Auntie Mogs looked up from her paper the next morning at +breakfast to greet her niece. Phyllis kissed her and sat down quietly +at her place. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one more morning to wait," she said happily, "and then—" +</P> + +<P> +"And then the Page twins will have breakfast together for the rest of +their lives, I hope," Auntie Mogs finished for her. "Or until one or +the other of you get married." +</P> + +<P> +"Married! Oh, what a perfectly silly idea!" Phyllis laughed. "I'm +never going to get married, and I don't believe Janet wants to either." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter did not contradict, but she picked up her newspaper to hide +the amused smile that played on her firm red lips. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked around the dining-room and hummed contentedly. It was a +charming room, and the fire blazing in the grate added to the warmth +and coziness. +</P> + +<P> +"No,"—Phyllis returned to the subject under discussion—"I'll never +marry, but that doesn't mean I don't like boys. I do. I adore them. +They are such fun and much more sensible than most girls, but I +wouldn't admit that to any one but you, Auntie Mogs, because, nice as +they are, they are fearfully conceited and that would keep me from ever +being silly about them." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope that's not the only reason," Auntie Mogs laughed. "Boys +are—but there goes the telephone. Will you answer it, please, dear? +Annie is busy." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis jumped up from the table and hurried to the hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose it's Tommy saying they're coming to-day!" she exclaimed. But +a minute later her aunt heard her voice drop to its natural tone as she +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hello, Muriel; this is Phyllis— +</P> + +<P> +"Why, how nice of you; of course I'll be in. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, isn't it too exciting for words! +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think we'll both be there on Monday. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, wonderful; then I'll see you this afternoon, 'by 'till then." +</P> + +<P> +"It was Muriel," she explained as she returned to the dining-room. +"She and some of the girls from school are coming over this afternoon. +They want to talk over some class plans and they want my advice. We +have class officers this year, you know. Muriel says I've missed an +awful lot. It's almost a month now since school started but it can't +be helped. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear, I wonder what class Janet will be in. I hope it won't be +too awfully low." She paused, and her pretty brows puckered into a +tiny frown. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I'd worry if I were you," her aunt said softly. "Janet +may never have been to a school but she is very bright, and I don't +think it will be very long before she will be even with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but, Auntie Mogs," Phyllis exclaimed, "you didn't think I meant +she was stupid. Of course she's bright, only she probably hasn't had +the same kind of lessons that I have. Anyway, we will soon know, and +even if she goes into the very baby class it won't make any difference +to me. Only you see it might to some of the others," she added +reluctantly. +</P> + +<P> +"That won't bother Janet." Miss Carter smiled at the memory of her +independent little niece who, for all her quiet ways, was thoroughly +able to take care of herself. +</P> + +<P> +"The only thing that worries me," she added, smiling, "is whether or +not Janet will like the girls." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked at her in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"But of course she will," she exclaimed. "They are all, or nearly all, +awfully nice and—why, Auntie Mogs, she's sure to like them." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter smiled as she left the table. She had given Phyllis a new +idea and she did not mean to dwell upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry and finish your breakfast, dear," she directed. "I want you to +go down town and finish your shopping with me. When Janet comes I +don't want to think of anything but her clothes. There will be lots to +do if she is to start school on Monday." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," Phyllis agreed, drinking her very hot cocoa so fast that +it burned her throat. "Won't it be fun, taking Janet to all the shops +and having luncheon down town. I know she'll adore it." +</P> + +<P> +The morning passed quickly, as mornings always do when they are spent +in shopping, and Phyllis was barely home in time to receive her friends +at three o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +Muriel Grey arrived first. She was a short plump girl of fourteen, +with lots of fluffy yellow hair and big china-blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Phyllis, I'm so glad to see you. We miss you terribly at school. +It isn't a bit nice without you!" she exclaimed as she kissed Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll be back Monday," Phyllis replied. "I've missed you too. +Sit down and tell me all the news—oh, wait a minute. Here comes +Eleanor, and Rosamond is with her." +</P> + +<P> +The two girls who were just coming up the steps were both dressed in +dark blue and their long braids hung down their backs and were both +tied with bright green ribbons to match their green tams. They were +not sisters, but they had been friends for so long that it was a joke +at school to say that they were beginning to look like each other. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis was very fond of them both for they were great fun, and their +endless ideas were always a source of wonder to their class. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Phyllis, here we are," Rosamond greeted. "Couldn't get here a +minute sooner." +</P> + +<P> +"Old Ducky Lucky requested us to remain after class as usual," Eleanor +explained. +</P> + +<P> +It all sounded so natural to Phyllis's ear that she giggled +delightedly. It was fun seeing the girls again, and she realized for +the first time that she had missed them unconsciously during the past +month. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny old Ducky Lucky," she laughed. "Is she just as fussy as ever?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you want to call it fussy, she is," Rosamond groaned. "I can +think of a better word, only I won't." +</P> + +<P> +Ducky Lucky was the disrespectful nickname for Miss Baxter, the +mathematics teacher at Miss Harding's school. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally's coming later," Eleanor said, as they all entered the living +room. "She said to tell you not to dare say anything about your twin +until she got here. She doesn't want to miss a word. Of course we're +all fearfully excited, but to hear Sally talk you would think that she +was the one that had made the discovery." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just like Sally,"—Phyllis laughed. "I'm crazy to see her. +I've only talked to her over the phone since I got back, and you all +know it's no fun talking to Sally unless you can watch her eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"Good old Sally,"—Eleanor smiled at the memory of a host of funny +sayings and doings, and then she looked suddenly grave. "Do you know +she is talking about going to boarding school second term?" she +inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally! Why, we could never in the world get along without her," +Phyllis and Rosamond protested. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know,"—Muriel spoke for the first time. "I think we +could. Sally's nice and all that, but she is such a tomboy." +</P> + +<P> +The girls turned in surprise to look at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course she is; she wouldn't be Sally if she were any different," +Phyllis said, and the two girls nodded in solemn agreement, and then +Sally herself arrived. +</P> + +<P> +She came into the room like a whirl of merry autumn leaves. Her hair, +never very orderly at best, was towsled by the wind, and her cheeks +glowed. She had deep blue eyes that flashed and sparkled behind long +black lashes, her hair was black as a raven's wing, and she had a +single bewitching dimple in her left cheek. When she spoke people +generally thought of rippling brooks and deep ringing chimes. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally Ladd, you love," Phyllis greeted her enthusiastically. "I +thought I was never going to see you. You wretch, why haven't you been +over before?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind about me," Sally protested, kissing her warmly. "I want to +hear all about Janet. Gracious sakes, it's thrilling enough to get a +new baby sister but to find a grown-up twin! Well, I do think some +people have all the luck. Tell us all about her. Is she pretty?" +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis laughed. She was a little embarrassed. +</P> + +<P> +"She's my twin, you know," she confessed, "and so—" +</P> + +<P> +"And so you haven't gumption enough to say that she's a beauty." Sally +settled the question with her usual straightforwardness. +</P> + +<P> +"Is she like you, Phyl?" Eleanor demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit," Phyllis denied. "She's a thousand times nicer. She is so +quiet when there are people around that it looks as though she were +bashful, but she really isn't a bit. She just never says anything +unless it's worth saying, and I wish you could see her look at me when +I babble on." +</P> + +<P> +The girls laughed, and Muriel asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What school has she been to? One up there in the country, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis bit her lip. What was the matter with Muriel? She was being +disagreeable and not at all like the good-natured rolypoly chum of past +years. +</P> + +<P> +"Janet has never been to school," she said quietly, "she has always had +a tutor." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot! That means she will know twice as much +as any of us," Sally cried. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Jane's poll parrot was a mythical bird of wisdom that Sally always +appealed to in moments of excitement. Phyllis laughed at hearing the +familiar exclamation again. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sally, that does sound natural, I really feel that I am back at +school and that Old Chester and Janet are all a dream!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, thank goodness they're not. Look here, Phyl. Do you know, I +think I'm a lot more excited about your twin than you are. In the +first place she is just the sort of girl we need at school," Sally +spoke seriously. "We have been the same lot of girls for, well three +years now, with only an occasional new one to jog us up, and I think +Janet will be a blessing. She'll be different, and that's what we +need." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope she is in our class," Eleanor added. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of course I do too," Muriel said slowly, "but I don't see +anything the matter with us as we are, except that I do feel that it is +time we were acting a little older and not so like tomboys." She +looked meaningly at Sally. "We have officers this year, and, as Miss +Harding says, we will have added responsibilities, and I think we ought +to try and be more dignified." +</P> + +<P> +Sally looked quickly from Phyllis to Eleanor and Rosamond. All three +looked surprised and a little angry. Sally laughed contentedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear that poll? we are to be more dignified! Bless us. Muriel, but +you are a scream," she teased. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why it's funny to want to be more grown up and serious." +Muriel's feelings were hurt, and she looked angrily at Sally. +</P> + +<P> +"If we acted any differently we'd be affected," Eleanor announced with +conviction, "and I for one don't think that would be much of an +improvement." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely we can hold our place in school without putting our hair up on +top of our heads,"—Phyllis laughed good naturedly, "but I think I know +what Muriel means," she added loyally. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you don't, Phyl." Rosamond had kept quiet up until now but her +eyes had danced mischievously. "You none of you know, but I'll tell +you,"—she paused dramatically. +</P> + +<P> +"Muriel has a beau." she announced. The girls all laughed, but she +went on quite seriously. "He takes her home from school and he carries +her books, so of course she has to grow up. Why, even the seniors +watch her from the study window in silent jealousy." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked at Muriel. There was no denying the change now. She +sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are going to talk like children, I'm going home." Muriel rose +with what she hoped was becoming dignity, and in silence the girls +watched her put on her hat and coat. Phyllis followed her to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Muriel, don't be silly," she pleaded. "We've been such chums, I can't +bear to see you so changed." But Muriel refused to be comforted. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't my fault if you can't keep up with me," she said coldly, and +Phyllis was too angry to answer. +</P> + +<P> +She walked upstairs slowly. "I've lost Muriel," she said wistfully, +but a sudden thought made her run up the rest of the way, two steps at +a time. +</P> + +<P> +"Girls, do you realize that this time to-morrow Janet will actually be +here?" she exclaimed joyfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot, so she will!" said Sally. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JANET ARRIVES +</H3> + +<P> +Phyllis opened her eyes on Wednesday morning, and frowned as she heard +the rain beating down on the tin roof below her window. +</P> + +<P> +"It has no business to rain to-day of all days," she said crossly; +"but, after all, it doesn't matter, for, rain or shine, Janet is +coming." +</P> + +<P> +She looked through the open door into the room adjoining hers and +smiled. From her bed she could see the dainty white dressing table and +the soft-colored print of Raphael's Madonna hanging in its gold frame +beside it. Her own room, as her eyes traveled back to it, was shabby +in comparison, but that only made her smile the more. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just too heavenly to be true," she whispered dreamily. "How +silly I've been to worry whether she will like it or not. Of course +she will, and oh, joy of joys, she will be here in less than, let me +see, eight hours." She jumped out of bed and in a few minutes she was +singing in her bath. +</P> + +<P> +"Phyllis, Phyllis, if you don't stop acting like a crazy person I don't +know what I shall do," Miss Carter sighed later in the morning as +Phyllis, growing more and more excited as the minutes passed, flew +upstairs and down, upsetting everything in her effort to keep busy. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, Aunt Mogs, but I can't help it. I shall probably die before +the train gets in," Phyllis confessed as she sat down at last and tried +to concentrate on a book. But the print danced before her eyes, and in +not more than a minute she was up again. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew I'd forgotten something!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it now?" her aunt inquired, smiling gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Flowers. The ones I bought day before yesterday are all wilted. Oh, +I know you told me they would be, but don't say, 'I told you so,' +please." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I won't. I'm almost glad they have wilted; they will give you +something to do. Hurry out and get some more, and be sure they are +buds this time." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis hurried to the nearest florist and then took as long as she +possibly could to select the roses. When she reached home she was +disgusted to find that she had been gone only twenty minutes. But the +morning passed somehow, and although Phyllis insisted upon a +ridiculously early start in case the traffic should delay them, they +were only a quarter of an hour ahead of train time. +</P> + +<P> +The huge station was crowded with people, and Phyllis looked at them +doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie Mogs, if Janet ever got lost in this mob we would never find +her in all this world," she said nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"It might be a difficult task," Miss Carter agreed calmly, "but Tom is +with her, and it would be very hard to lose Tom even here." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I was forgetting all about Tom." Phyllis laughed with relief. +"It would be hard to hide his six feet, wouldn't it? Oh, dear, that +sounds as though he were a centipede, but you know what I mean." +</P> + +<P> +"I do sometimes, my darling,"—Miss Carter laughed into Phyllis's +eyes—"but sometimes, I must admit, you race too far ahead of me. Do +try and quiet down before Janet comes." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but she loves me just the way I am," Phyllis announced airily, +"and so does Tommy. Look now, it's only ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +She kept her eyes fastened to the blackboard until the announcer called +the number of the track and wrote it down in his slow deliberate hand. +From that minute to the time when the first porter came up the stairs +and through the gate seemed an eternity, but at last Tom's head and +shoulders appeared above the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they are, Janet," he called, but even that was not necessary, for +the twins had found each other, in spite of bobbing hats and +sharp-pointed umbrellas, and were in each other's arms. Phyllis, as +usual, was doing all the talking, and Janet, a little confused, +accepted it as a fitting ending to the amazing dream that had begun +that morning when she watched the Old Chester station fade into the +distance. +</P> + +<P> +After a description of Phyllis, it is useless to give one of Janet, for +except for the difference in the expression of their eyes the girls +were the image of each other. Even the difference in their dress did +not disguise the startling resemblance, and people turned to stare and +then to smile as Phyllis's infectious laughter reached them. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait here and I'll find a taxi," Tom directed, as they reached the +open rotunda that led to the street. +</P> + +<P> +In a minute they were all comfortably seated in a cab and had joined +the procession of slow-moving vehicles that were trying to gain the +avenue. +</P> + +<P> +"To think you are really here," Phyllis sighed, as though the greatest +event of her life were over. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not a bit sure that I am,"—Janet laughed. "I've been begging +Tommy to pinch me all the way down in the train. I thought surely I +would wake up any minute and hear Martha say, 'It's time to get up, +child.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't do it though, because I thought the other people in the train +might not understand," Tom said with amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is your dog?" Miss Carter asked suddenly, and Janet's face fell. +</P> + +<P> +"Grandmother decided I mustn't bring Boru," she answered with a little +catch in her voice. +</P> + +<P> +Her aunt took her hand impulsively and squeezed it. "But, my dear, +that is absolutely absurd. You will be miserable without him, +especially when everything is new to you. I will write up to Mrs. Page +to-night and ask her to have some one send him down by express as soon +as possible." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter was a gentle little lady, but when she made up her mind to +a thing that thing was as good as accomplished. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Auntie Mogs, that's awfully sweet of you," Janet said gratefully. +"I know I'll miss him awfully." +</P> + +<P> +"I never heard of such a thing," Phyllis protested. "We never dreamed +you'd come without him. Why, I sent Sir Galahad to the hospital to +have him out of the way until Boru got used to his new house." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but you shouldn't have done that," Janet protested. "Poor kitty, +he'll feel terribly abused." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he had a little cold and it really was the best place for him, +and of course I can go and see him any time. The hospital is only +around the corner. Tommy, what are you laughing at?" +</P> + +<P> +"You two girls talk about your dog and cat just as if they were +children. Are you going to make household pets of all my livestock +when you come to the ranch next summer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," Phyllis and Janet answered, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, don't bother Janet," Miss Carter interrupted before Phyllis could +say anything more; "she is busy looking at the city, and I know she +would rather do that than listen to you. We are on Fifth Avenue now, +dear, and that lovely building on your right is Tiffany's." +</P> + +<P> +Janet looked out of first one window and then the other. It was all +very new and exciting to her. She had been to Boston several times, +but Boston, beautiful city that it is, is not New York. +</P> + +<P> +"It's awfully full, isn't it?" she said at last, and Tom laughed +heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you like it?" Phyllis asked in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, of course I do, but somehow I wish it would stand still for just a +minute and give me a chance to look at it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid it will never do that, my dear," Miss Carter laughed. "But +you won't find it noisy where we are, and I know you will love the +park." +</P> + +<P> +"Do look," Phyllis pointed towards the west. "It's clearing, I knew it +would and here's the park." +</P> + +<P> +Central Park is a refreshing sight to see after the noise and confusion +of the streets, and to Janet's eyes the soft green of the grass and the +great trees, resplendent in their autumn dress, was comforting indeed. +The sun was just visible between two sullen gray clouds, but it only +peeked out for a minute and then as though it were depressed by what it +saw, it hurried to bed. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't blame it," Phyllis said, as she watched the last gleam of red +fade into the clouds. +</P> + +<P> +Janet nodded in perfect understanding. It was not the last time that, +without the aid of words, the Page twins were to understand and share +each other's thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +The taxi drew up at the house at last, and Annie hurried to the side +walk to help with bags. She was a servant that Miss Carter had had for +many years and she was greatly excited over Janet's arrival. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis dashed up the stairs, pulling Janet behind her, and instead of +waiting even for a minute in the living-room she hurried her up the +second flight of stairs and threw open the door of her room. +</P> + +<P> +"Oooooh!" Janet stood perfectly still and looked and looked. To +Phyllis it seemed as though she were never going to speak, then at last +she said, "Oh!" again and sank down on the soft bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Like it?" Phyllis tried to make her voice sound cool, but she did not +succeed in keeping the eagerness out of it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's fairyland!" Janet exclaimed. "Oh, Phyllis, I never dreamed +anything could be half so beautiful." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis gave a great sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that," she +said, laughing, "and now come and see the rest of the house." +</P> + +<P> +Janet followed from one charming room to another, but she was +speechless until she came to the library—a big brown room, filled with +books, low comfy chairs and shaded lamps. +</P> + +<P> +"Phyllis, it's just too wonderful to be true!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's not the Enchanted Kingdom,"—Phyllis laughed—"but we hope +it will be a substitute." +</P> + +<P> +For the rest of the day Janet tried to say some of the things that +seemed to be bursting her heart. It was not as easy for her to enthuse +as it was for Phyllis, but her eyes shone in the firelight as she sat +beside Tommy on the sofa and listened to her aunt make plans for the +coming week. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis need have had no fears, for there was not a moment spared in +regret for the four-poster bed. How could there be, when such a pink +and white nest awaited her? She undressed that night still in a half +dream. +</P> + +<P> +"Janet, have you gone to sleep yet?" Phyllis's voice called through +the dark, long after the house had quieted down for the night. +</P> + +<P> +Janet sat up and laughed joyously. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she whispered back, "I'm afraid to." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SCHOOL +</H3> + +<P> +Two big old-fashioned drawing-rooms thrown into one made the study hall +at Miss Harding's school. It was not a bit like an ordinary +schoolroom, for a fireplace filled one corner of it, books and pictures +covered the walls, and in every window flowers nodded. Only the rows +of double desks bespoke study. +</P> + +<P> +On the Monday after Janet's arrival there was a suppressed current of +excitement in the air. At the slightest sound from the hall every eye +turned expectantly toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis was sitting in her old seat beside Muriel Grey; but the old +feeling of friendship that had always existed between the two was +missing, and it was to Sally Ladd that Phyllis turned for sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +Sally was sitting just behind her, and she took advantage of every +glance that Miss Baxter, who was on duty at the desk, cast in any other +direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot," she whispered excitedly, "if she doesn't +come soon I shall expire." Phyllis nodded and looked again at the door. +</P> + +<P> +Janet was with Miss Harding in her office upstairs. The principal was +deciding the grade she had better enter, and to Phyllis the decision +was all important. Although she would never have admitted it to any +one, the thought of Janet in any class but her own made her miserable. +</P> + +<P> +As for the rest of the girls, they were all eager and curious to see +the new twin, as Sally insisted upon calling Janet. Eleanor and +Rosamond had already met her. Sally had been in bed with a cold when +Phyllis had called up to ask her to luncheon, and she was still waiting +for her first glimpse of her. +</P> + +<P> +At last the door opened and Janet came into the room. It was an +entirely new Janet from the one who had arrived at the Grand Central +Station a few days before; that is, to all outward appearance. She had +on a dark blue serge dress with white collar and cuffs, and her hair +was tied loosely in the nape of her neck with a black ribbon. The +curls, that Martha had tried so hard to keep tidy, were blowing about +her face, her cheeks were pale from nervousness, and her eyes shone +brighter than ever. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Harding nodded to Miss Baxter, and then turned to the girls. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we have all been more than usually interested in Phyllis's +twin sister," she said, smiling. "I want to introduce her to you; this +is Janet Page. You had better all look at her very hard for I think it +is going to be almost impossible to tell her from Phyllis unless we are +very careful. Perhaps I'll have to ask one of them to wear a pink +string tied to her finger and the other a green." +</P> + +<P> +The girls, including Janet, laughed heartily. Whispers of "she's the +very image," "what a dear," and "won't it be funny," ran around the +room. +</P> + +<P> +"I must find you a seat, my dear," Miss Harding continued. "Let me +see. It would never do to put you beside Phyllis, for we'd all be sure +then that we were seeing double. I think—Sally, are you alone?" she +asked. +</P> + +<P> +Sally stood up. "Yes, Miss Harding," she replied so quickly that the +girls laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then I think Janet will sit beside you. And now you must all +get back to work for there are only a few minutes left of study period. +But this has been an occasion, hasn't it?" Miss Harding smiled, +nodded, said a few words in an undertone to Miss Baxter, and left the +room, leaving behind her a joy and charm that were always hers to give. +</P> + +<P> +Janet walked down between the rows of desks to the beckoning Sally, but +her eyes were looking into Phyllis's. As she passed her desk Phyllis +caught her hand and whispered, "What class?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yours," Janet whispered back. She did not think it necessary to add +that Miss Harding had found her ready for the grade higher but that she +had chosen to stay with Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +Sally almost hugged her as she took her place beside her, and under +cover of supplying her with books and showing her the lessons, she +managed to talk until the bell rang. There was a ten-minute recess +before lessons began. The girls made the most of it and crowded around +Janet's desk. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was there ever such luck?" Sally +demanded. "I think I hypnotized Miss Harding, I really do. I thought +so hard about your sitting beside me that she simply had to let you." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you want me to sit beside you?" Janet asked with genuine surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"But of course I did,"—Sally was equally surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"It was rank favoritism," laughed Eleanor. "I thought too, good and +hard. Why I even pointed to the forlorn and empty chair beside me and +it didn't do a bit of good." +</P> + +<P> +"Introduce us, introduce us," several voices demanded, and Phyllis was +kept busy. Even the seniors came and laughed and envied. It was quite +a reception. +</P> + +<P> +"What a lucky girl you are," one of them, a tall girl with +copper-colored hair named Madge Cannan, exclaimed, "I've wanted a twin +all my life and <I>I</I> never found one." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Madge, I'll be your twin," some one offered. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't do it," Phyllis laughed. "There's only one twin in the world +and I've got her." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry,"—Janet looked at the older girl and spoke quite seriously. +"It would be very nice to have two <I>yous</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Madge flushed, and the girls laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Of all the precious things to say," she exclaimed. "Phyllis, I can't +speak for the rest, but as far as I am concerned your nose is +completely out of joint." +</P> + +<P> +Just then the bell rang, and the day's lessons began. +</P> + +<P> +The next recess was at eleven-thirty, when hot chocolate and crackers +were served. School did not let out until one-thirty, and Miss Harding +thought the girls needed something to eat before that time. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Sally, leave Phyllis's twin alone," Rosamond insisted, as she +handed Janet her cup and prepared to sit down beside her. "You've had +her all day long and now it's some one else's turn." +</P> + +<P> +Janet looked from one girl to the other in mystified amazement. She +had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in all her life and +she couldn't understand it. For one terrible moment she thought they +were making fun of her, but a glance at their smiling faces reassured +her on that point but came no nearer helping her solve their reason. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-053"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-053.jpg" ALT="She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in all her life and she couldn't understand it" BORDER="2" WIDTH="415" HEIGHT="601"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 415px"> +She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in all her life and she couldn't understand it +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Thank you," she said quietly. It was fortunate that the girls did not +expect her to do much talking and were content with her shy answers. +Perhaps the interest in her brown eyes made up for her lack in that +direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you play basket ball?" Eleanor was asking. +</P> + +<P> +"No." Janet shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then I'll teach you. We play this year, and you simply must +love it." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like to swim?" Rosamond demanded, and again Janet shook her +head. +</P> + +<P> +What must these girls think of her! Why, she couldn't do anything. +</P> + +<P> +"Skate?" some one else asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't." Janet looked imploringly at Phyllis, but for once she +was looking at some one else. Only Sally noticed the look and she gave +no sign—then— +</P> + +<P> +"What can you do?" It was Muriel who spoke and in spite of the angry +eyes that were turned toward her she managed to smile, but it wasn't a +pretty smile. +</P> + +<P> +For a minute Janet's face flamed to a deep red, then as suddenly her +cheeks grew very white. There was a pathetic silence. She knew that +it would end soon, but before it ended she must answer or Phyllis would +be ashamed of her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid I can't play any games," she said slowly; "you see, I never +went with girls and I never went to school." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you go with boys then?" Muriel still smiled. She felt quite sure +that the answer would be "no." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, I did," Janet confessed, "and, you see, they liked to play +ball and to go sailing or canoeing,"—she thought of Peter Gibbs, and +the thought of him made the color come back to her cheeks—natural +color this time. +</P> + +<P> +"We coasted a lot in the winter and then of course there was always +fishing," she finished lamely. How could she explain the hundred and +one things that went to make up her days in Old Chester? +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, I suppose you will find it very strange here." It was a +chastened Muriel that spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, my Aunt Jane's poll parrot, I ask you, why under the sun should +she?" Sally broke the silence that followed angrily. +</P> + +<P> +Eleanor laughed at Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you been properly introduced to Sally's Aunt Jane's poll parrot?" +she asked to change the subject. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a very wise bird, and we all consult him when our own reason +fails,"—Rosamond took up the explanation. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally consults him oftener than any of the rest of us, because you +see, Sally's reason fails her oftener. Excuse my breaking into the +conversation, but no one has had the manners to introduce me. My name +is Daphne Hillis, but no one ever calls me anything but Taffy on +account of my hair." It was a long speech, but the speaker took twice +as long as was necessary to say it; her slow drawl held a hint of +laughter, and her voice sounded warm and furry. +</P> + +<P> +Janet looked at her and laughed without meaning to. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do," she said. "I'm awfully glad to know about the poll +parrot," she added with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis, who had been talking, very much against her will, to one of +the teachers, joined them and nodded to Taffy. Janet noticed that she +looked surprised and pleased. +</P> + +<P> +Daphne smiled lazily. +</P> + +<P> +"I like your twin, Phyllis," she drawled and then left them. +</P> + +<P> +"Now isn't that just like Taffy?" Sally demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit," Eleanor protested. "Taffy likes very few people." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you know what I mean," Sally insisted. "It's like her to say a +thing like that and then leave." +</P> + +<P> +It was not until Janet and Phyllis were alone in the living-room that +Phyllis explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Daphne Hillis is the most popular girl in school," she said, "but I +think she has fewer friends than any other girl, and that's what makes +it strange." +</P> + +<P> +"But if she's so popular?" Janet queried. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, she could have dozens of friends, but she doesn't seem to want +them. She's queer and different somehow; none of us understand her, +but we all love her." +</P> + +<P> +Janet looked out of the window and smiled softly to herself. If being +different from other girls meant being like Daphne, why, being +different was not so bad after all. +</P> + +<P> +She didn't even bother to turn her head when Phyllis exclaimed angrily, +</P> + +<P> +"I think I hate Muriel Grey." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TOM'S LAST DAY +</H3> + +<P> +"Tommy, I call it just plain mean, for you to go away." Phyllis was +perched on the arm of her brother's chair, and she gave him a little +shake to emphasize her words. +</P> + +<P> +Tom, by a deft twist of a wrist and a long reach with his other arm, +laid her very gently on the floor at his feet and held her so that she +could not move. +</P> + +<P> +"Mustn't call your big brother names," he chided. "See what happens to +little girls when they do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tommy, let me up, you wretch!" Phyllis struggled, but she was +quite powerless. +</P> + +<P> +"Janet, come and help me," she called. "Tom is killing me." +</P> + +<P> +"What good do you think Janet can do?" Tom inquired calmly, as Janet +could be heard running down the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," Phyllis confessed, "but she will do something. Oh, +Janet, save me! Look what Tommy is doing to me." +</P> + +<P> +Janet stood in the doorway and laughed, then she made a dive for her +brother, but instead of trying to use strength she tickled him. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, stop; that's no fair," he protested, but Janet only renewed her +efforts, and Phyllis, taking advantage of his helplessness, jumped up. +After that it was only a matter of seconds before Tommy was on the sofa +completely muffled by cushions. +</P> + +<P> +"Pax, pax, I'll be good," he panted. "What do you want me to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Say you are never going home," Phyllis commanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm never going home," Tom repeated meekly. +</P> + +<P> +They let him up, and he tried to smooth his hair and straighten his tie. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness that's settled!" Phyllis exclaimed. "And now what do +you propose doing to amuse us?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's Saturday, you know," Janet reminded him. +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie Mogs, I appeal to you," Tom said, as Miss Carter entered the +room. "Is this fair? These two Comanche Indians hold me helpless on +the sofa, extract a promise that I will never go home, and now they +want me to amuse them besides." +</P> + +<P> +"All day," Phyllis said. +</P> + +<P> +"All day long," echoed Janet. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter laughed. "I'm afraid I can't help you out, Tom; you +brought it upon yourself, but of course you know that a promise made in +self-defense is not binding." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it, though?" Phyllis demanded, and Janet started to tickle again. +</P> + +<P> +"Say it is binding," she commanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, anything, anything, only stop!" Tom begged. "I am at your mercy, +what do you want me to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we might take a walk in the park this morning," Phyllis +suggested. "Janet hasn't seen my pet lion yet, and I'm crazy to show +him to her." +</P> + +<P> +"And we have to go to the station this afternoon to meet Boru," Janet +added happily. Miss Carter, true to her promise, had written to Mrs. +Page, with the result that Janet's dog was expected that day. +</P> + +<P> +"And after that—" Phyllis cupped her chin in her hand and appeared to +give the matter serious consideration. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think after that you might rest awhile?" Auntie Mogs +inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Saturday comes but once a year; I mean, week," Phyllis chanted, "and +it's foolish to rest." +</P> + +<P> +"I have an idea," Tom said suddenly; "if you promise not to tickle me +in the station when I go to buy my ticket and behave yourselves +generally, I will give you a surprise party. No, I won't tell you what +it's to be, that's my affair, but I promise it will be something nice." +</P> + +<P> +"Something to do?" Phyllis inquired. +</P> + +<P> +Tom nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you promise?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we?" Phyllis looked at Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, let's, I love surprises," Janet agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"We promise," they said together. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, go get your things on, and we will go over and interview +this lion friend of Phyllis's." Tom sighed his relief when the girls +had gone. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll miss you, Tom," Miss Carter said gently; "must you really go +to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, I must. I should have gone weeks ago," Tom replied, "but I +couldn't leave those two youngsters. Tell you what it is, Auntie Mogs, +it isn't every man that finds two such sisters. I wish you were all +going back with me," he added wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Tom, the summer isn't very far away." Miss Carter patted his +shoulder affectionately. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll really come?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we will. The girls are making plans already. The only +thing that worries me is that Mrs. Page may want Janet with her this +summer." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I fixed all that," Tom assured her. "Grandmother knows you are +coming to me, but I think she expects you all at Old Chester for +Christmas." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that would be delightful," Miss Carter said warmly. "A change +would do the girls so much good. It's just the time when school gets a +little monotonous and then, too, if Janet has a visit to look forward +to it may keep her from growing homesick." +</P> + +<P> +"Homesick! Why you haven't seen any symptoms of that, have you?" Tom +demanded, sitting up straight and looking at his aunt. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter laughed at his concern. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing very alarming," she said, "but I don't think she quite +understands school yet. She doesn't seem to want to talk about it, for +one thing." +</P> + +<P> +"But Phyllis says the girls all like her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure they do, but perhaps she doesn't realize it quite yet. +Girls are very strange sometimes, Tom, but I can see Phyllis is +worried." +</P> + +<P> +Tom had only time to nod, for the girls came back with their hats and +coats on and the subject had to be dropped. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a glorious day," Phyllis enthused as they entered the park and +headed toward the zoo. "I wonder if Akbar will remember me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, undoubtedly," Tom teased. "Lions are noted for their wonderful +memories." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you known him long?" Janet inquired mischievously. +</P> + +<P> +"I have. Akbar and I have been friends for over two years, and you can +laugh if you want to but he does know me," Phyllis retorted. +</P> + +<P> +And indeed it almost seemed as though he did. They entered the lion +house to find a number of people around the cage, for Akbar was a +mighty beast, and people were apt to linger, fascinated, before him. +</P> + +<P> +This morning he was lying with his huge paws over his nose, the picture +of disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my beauty, isn't he a love?" Phyllis demanded, forgetting that her +voice carried far in its eagerness. +</P> + +<P> +The people around the cage laughed and turned to look at her, but only +Tom and Janet felt embarrassed. Phyllis was gazing at Akbar. +</P> + +<P> +"Come over here and talk to me," she urged. "I want you to stand up +and roar." +</P> + +<P> +Akbar opened one sleepy eye and then the other, lifted his splendid +head and finally after a little more coaxing stood up and stretched. +</P> + +<P> +"You see he does remember me," Phyllis said triumphantly. "I knew he +would." +</P> + +<P> +Tom and Janet looked at each other and winked solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis refused to leave until, with the aid of the keeper, who seemed +to be an old friend of hers, she had made Akbar roar for a large piece +of meat. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the way he says please, bless his darling heart," she +explained, and the keeper nodded assent. +</P> + +<P> +"The little lady has a great way with him, sir," he said to Tom. "It +do seem as though he knows her, for he'll get up and come to the front +of his cage when he won't for another living soul, but I do be always +saying that lions be rare intelligent beasts." +</P> + +<P> +"My sentiments exactly," Tom agreed affably, but he hurried the girls +out into the sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't want him to tell me that Phyllis ought to have been brought +up as a lion tamer,"—he laughed—"and I could see that he was going to +with the slightest encouragement." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis was silent most of the way home, Akbar always filled her with +odd hopes, too vague to be put into words but strong enough to make her +restless. He had the same effect on her that some of the statues in +the museum had. +</P> + +<P> +After luncheon they went down to meet the train that carried at least +one very excited passenger. All the way from Old Chester Boru had done +his doggish best to tell all the brakemen in the train that he was +going to his mistress at last. +</P> + +<P> +He very nearly ate Janet up when he spied her down the length of the +baggage platform. As for Janet, she sat down on the floor and hugged +him until Tom bribed her to get up by offering to buy Boru some ice +cream. +</P> + +<P> +It was a merry party that came back to Auntie Mogs's in a taxicab and +Boru, in his excitement, insisted upon licking even the chauffeur's ear. +</P> + +<P> +Janet sat with him in her lap for the rest of the happy afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +Tom's surprise party was a great success. At a little after six, he +told the girls to be ready to go out, and Auntie Mogs suggested that +they wear their prettiest frocks. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you can do as you like," she said with a twinkle in her eye, +"but I am going to wear my black lace." +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie Mogs, you know what the surprise is," Phyllis accused. "Tell +us, please do." +</P> + +<P> +But Auntie Mogs went off to her own room, singing softly to herself. +</P> + +<P> +The girls dressed as quickly as they could, and discussed the +possibilities. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we are going to dinner at one of those huge hotels," Janet +said. "I know it will be thrilling." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I think that's part of it too," Phyllis agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"Only part?" Janet inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Hum, well, maybe that will be all." Phyllis did not wish to voice the +thought that was making her smile. +</P> + +<P> +"And quite enough too," Janet replied. +</P> + +<P> +But dinner at a hotel was not all. A theater followed, and Janet, who +had never seen a play before, was so excited and thrilled that people +around her who had come expecting to be bored went home chuckling over +the memory of her shining eyes. +</P> + +<P> +They reached home tired and sleepy but very happy. +</P> + +<P> +"It would have been a perfect day if I hadn't kept thinking that Tommy +was going away to-morrow," Phyllis sighed and yawned. "Why do we +always have to have some little thing to spoil perfect fun, I wonder." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a reason," Janet answered dreamily. "It has something to do +with roses and thorns, but I'm too sleepy to remember, only I do wish, +Tommy, you wouldn't go." +</P> + +<P> +"To bed with you," Tom laughed, as he kissed them both, "and happy +dreams." +</P> + +<P> +They were asleep in a very short time, but curiously enough they did +not dream of dancing and music as they had expected, for Phyllis +dreamed of Akbar and Janet of Boru. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DAPHNE'S ADVICE +</H3> + +<P> +Tom left for the West the next day, and Janet and Phyllis returned from +the station with Auntie Mogs. They were very quiet for the rest of the +evening, for they were busy with their own thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +Janet faced another week of school and she dreaded it. If she could +only stay at home with Phyllis and Auntie Mogs and Boru, instead of +having to face all those girls again. She had tried at first to find +her place among them, but the old dread of being "different" made her +shy and self-conscious; even with Daphne before her as an example of +the charms of originality she had failed, failed utterly. +</P> + +<P> +It was partly the girls' fault. They had made a tremendous fuss about +her the first few days and then, as the novelty had worn off, they had +settled back into their own ways, and Janet had not understood the +change. Her shyness made her morbid, and by the end of the first week +she had made up her mind that she had failed in some way, and she +construed the girls' thoughtless indifference to mean dislike. +</P> + +<P> +It is no wonder that she dreaded the thought of returning; it meant +hard work to keep a stiff upper lip and to smile in spite of her +heartache. Only one thought was clear, and that was that Phyllis must +not know. +</P> + +<P> +But Phyllis did know. There was something wrong, she felt sure, but +she could not understand what it was. She had been delighted with the +way her friends had welcomed her twin, but when Janet had seemed to +refuse their offers of friendship she could only conclude that she did +not like them. But Phyllis would not accept any such explanation +meekly. Janet was not happy, therefore something must be done, and she +decided to talk the matter over with Sally. +</P> + +<P> +She chose the noon recess, when Janet remained in the study hall to +finish a composition she was writing. +</P> + +<P> +Sally listened gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>shall</I> I do about it?" Phyllis finished dolefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, something," Sally replied decidedly. "I don't know just what, +but something's wrong, and we will have to ferret it out. She's +strange, of course, and she doesn't understand us very well. I've seen +her look at me as if she thought I were crazy sometimes. She acts as +though she didn't like us, but I think she does really. Time's the +thing, of course, but it won't do to wait until the girls begin to +resent her standoffishness." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sally, don't," pleaded Phyllis. "Hello, Taffy," she added, as +Daphne passed slowly behind her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"'Lo," Daphne drawled. +</P> + +<P> +In another part of the room another group of girls were discussing +Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"She's really not a bit like Phyllis," Eleanor said with a frown. "I +can't make her out." +</P> + +<P> +"Neither can any one else," replied Rosamond. "She's queer." +</P> + +<P> +"I've never been able to get anything but yes or no out of her," +another girl complained. "I call her just plain slow." +</P> + +<P> +"She's always fearfully polite," some one else objected. "I never +heard her use a single slang word." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, Sally will cure her of that,"—Rosamond laughed. +</P> + +<P> +Eleanor sighed. It was so easy to be goodnatured that she couldn't +understand anybody taking the trouble to sulk. +</P> + +<P> +"We must be nice to her anyway," she said decidedly. "She's Phyllis's +twin, and she's in our class." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose so," the others agreed, as the bell rang. +</P> + +<P> +When Sally and Phyllis returned to the study hall, Janet was still at +her desk. She looked up and smiled as Phyllis spoke to her, but she +went on with her work. +</P> + +<P> +Sally watched her critically and sighed. She was awfully sorry for her +but she was angry too. She wanted to shake her, to make her laugh or +cry or do something besides just sitting there with that forced smile +and her brown eyes ready to flood with tears any minute. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish she would bawl and have it over with," she thought to herself. +</P> + +<P> +Janet lifted the lid of her desk to put away her papers, and Sally +lifted hers at the same time and bent her head so that she could speak +without being seen from the desk. +</P> + +<P> +"Phyllis is coming over to my house this afternoon," she whispered; +"will you come too?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, thanks, I'd like to," Janet replied eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +Sally sighed with relief. So far so good. Once in her own home, with +a box of candy between them, they could surely straighten everything +out. +</P> + +<P> +As for Janet, she had hardly accepted the invitation before she +regretted it. Sally only wanted her because she knew Phyllis would not +come without her, or so she argued. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't be a bother to them," she declared vehemently. "<I>I won't.</I>" +</P> + +<P> +So when Sally and Phyllis hurried to the study hall after being +detained by Miss Baxter at the close of school, Janet was nowhere to be +found. +</P> + +<P> +"But she said she'd come," Sally exclaimed angrily. "Oh, she's left a +note on my desk, listen— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Dear Sally—" (she read) +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry that I won't be able to come to your house with Phyllis +this afternoon, but I have just remembered something that I must hurry +home to do. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you very much for bothering to ask me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"JANET." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"My Aunt Jane's poll parrot!" was all poor Sally could say. +</P> + +<P> +"But she didn't have anything to do at home," Phyllis protested. "Oh, +Sally, what is the matter with her, and what shall I do?" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll come home with me first of all," Sally replied with +determination; "then later in the afternoon we will go over to your +house, as though nothing had happened, and perhaps we can persuade her +to come out for a walk." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, if you think that's best,"—Phyllis agreed to the plan, +dismally. "But I warn you I won't be very good fun." +</P> + +<P> +"If she would only come to her senses," Sally exclaimed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the meantime, Janet had hurried away from school. She did not want +Phyllis to see her for, with that lump in her throat, she knew an +explanation would mean tears, and Janet hated tears. +</P> + +<P> +Her steps lagged before she had gone very far, and she walked on +slowly, deep in an unhappy revery, too miserable to notice the quick +footsteps that were rapidly gaining on her. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Phyllis's twin!" The soft, half-laughing drawl was +unmistakable, and Janet turned quickly, to see Daphne beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello," she answered slowly. No need to force a smile for her; she +wouldn't be deceived by it. +</P> + +<P> +Daphne did not appear to notice anything amiss. She looked lazily down +at the wet and muddy sidewalks and shrugged her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Park's better than this," she suggested. "Let's cut over to it." +</P> + +<P> +They walked in silence until they gained the path that ran around the +reservoir. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks wintry, doesn't it?" she asked idly. They stopped and looked +over the iron railing into the dull green water. +</P> + +<P> +It was a somber autumn day. The sky was banked with dark gray clouds, +and a high wind swept through the trees, tearing away the last leaves +and whirling them to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," Janet replied indifferently. "I like it," she added +listlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, but it's silly of you," Daphne agreed with her odd little +laugh. "Awfully silly." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" Janet looked up at her suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's silly to like dreary things, even days, and it's most awfully +silly to be dreary yourself. Not fair, you know, when every body's +doing their best to be nice." +</P> + +<P> +"But they're not," Janet said quickly. "They were the first day and +then—" +</P> + +<P> +Daphne turned slowly and looked at her. For once her drooping lids +fully uncovered the sea green eyes that they were usually at such pains +to hide. A strand of her taffy-colored hair blew across her face, and +she tucked it carefully under her hat before she answered. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's it, is it?" There was a hint of something besides laughter +in her velvety voice. "I didn't understand; what happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," Janet answered dully; "perhaps I did something they +didn't like or perhaps they just stopped bothering with me; I don't +know." +</P> + +<P> +"But I know,"—Daphne laughed. "You expected too much. When the girls +stopped making a fuss about you, you thought they stopped liking you, +so here you are going off in corners and looking sadder than a wet +chicken, and you think you are doing the best you can, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," Janet said quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Ever have a pet rabbit?" Daphne inquired with mild interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but what—" Janet stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember the first day you had him, the fuss you made about him and +then how you got sort of tired of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, I suppose—" +</P> + +<P> +Daphne laughed and yawned, showing all her pretty white teeth. +</P> + +<P> +"Little simpleton, you're the rabbit," she said. "The girls still like +you, but they're used to you and they rather expect you to do something +now. It's your turn to do tricks, like the bunny." +</P> + +<P> +"And I—" Janet began. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you sit in the corner and sulk and say, 'Yes, thank you,' and 'no, +thank you,' and the girls are discouraged. Can't blame them, you know. +You're Phyllis's sister, and they have a right to expect more from +you." She said it all in her soft furry voice, and it was impossible +to resent it. Janet watched her fasten her coat collar up closer about +her neck, but she could not speak. +</P> + +<P> +Daphne apparently did not expect her to. +</P> + +<P> +"It's your turn now," she repeated and without another word turned and +walked away. +</P> + +<P> +Janet did not follow her except with her eyes. She seemed rivetted to +the spot on which she stood. When Daphne was out of sight she turned +once more to the reservoir, but this time she saw more than the clouds +reflected in the dull water. She saw her own mistake. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CHANGE IN JANET +</H3> + +<P> +"Hello, you two, where are you bound for?" Eleanor joined Sally and +Phyllis as they were on their way to Sally's house and took them each +by an arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Home," Sally replied, "home to muse with wonder and sorrow over the +sickening cruelty of Ducky Lucky." +</P> + +<P> +"I know," Eleanor nodded sympathetically; "isn't to-morrow's math. +simply terrible. I'm not going to try to do it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I am," Sally announced emphatically. "Catch me staying in for +an hour and listening to a long and weary lecture on my many sins; no +thanks. If the worse comes to the worst, I will make Daddy do it for +me." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Rosey-posey?" inquired Phyllis. "You're not going to walk all +the way home to your house, are you?" Eleanor lived across the city on +Riverside Drive. +</P> + +<P> +"Walk, well, I guess not, but I had to make a start to get Rosey away +from the piano. She's playing while Madge teaches some of the other +seniors how to dance the latest step. I wish she'd hurry, I hate +loosing my special bus." She glanced behind her and then stopped. +"Here she comes now." +</P> + +<P> +Rosamond joined them. She was out of breath but she was laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my hat!" she exclaimed. "Muriel will kill me yet. I met her in +the cloakroom and we went out together. I thought she looked worried, +but I didn't catch on until she began making excuses to get rid of me, +then I looked ahead and down the street, busily tying his shoe, <I>HE</I> +was waiting." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I hope you had the manners to leave at once?"—Eleanor laughed. +"Or did you wait and make her miserable!" +</P> + +<P> +Rosamond winked one eye mischievously. +</P> + +<P> +"I behaved with perfect decorum," she replied. "I said I really must +run for my bus as the conductor was a cousin of my sister-in-law's aunt +and he let me ride for nothing. I said it loud too, so that He could +hear, and Muriel was wild." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Rosey, how could you, you wretch; poor Muriel!" Phyllis tried not +to laugh, but gave up and joined the rest. +</P> + +<P> +Rosamond turned them down one of the side streets abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you going?" Eleanor demanded. "I want to go home; I'm +hungry." +</P> + +<P> +"Now don't be absurd," Rosamond admonished. "You can eat any old time, +but it isn't often that you can see what I am going to show you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, now what are you up to?" Eleanor protested, but Rosamond only +pointed to the corner of the next avenue and told them to watch. +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot, Muriel!" Sally was the first to see that the +girl and boy approaching them was their classmate and her friend. They +would soon meet. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll giggle, I know I will," Eleanor warned them. "Rosey, it's all +your fault. Let's turn around." +</P> + +<P> +"Never," Rosamond protested. "Just walk like little ladies and bow +politely when they pass," she said with a ridiculous primness that was +exactly like the art teacher at school. +</P> + +<P> +They walked; there was nothing else to do; and Muriel and the boy +beside her came toward them, deep in conversation. It was noticeable +that Muriel was doing most of the talking. +</P> + +<P> +When they were even with them, Rosamond bowed formally and in a high +and very affected voice she exclaimed, +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Muriel, how <I>do</I> you do?"' +</P> + +<P> +Sally called a careless hello, and Eleanor, too full of laughter to +dare speech, only nodded. It was Phyllis that gave a little gasp of +astonishment that was repeated in turn by the boy. He recovered +himself and pulled off his cap in response to her quick smile. +</P> + +<P> +They were hardly out of earshot before the girls turned to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Phyllis Page, you've known him all the time, you wretch," Rosamond +accused. +</P> + +<P> +"I have not," Phyllis denied. "I was never so surprised in my life." +</P> + +<P> +"What's his name?" Sally demanded, but Phyllis shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," she protested, "honestly I don't. I have only seen him +once before and then I wasn't really introduced, his first name, or +rather his nickname, is Chuck, and that's all I know, except,"—she +added provokingly, "that he doesn't believe in brownies." And that was +all she would say on the subject, though the girls did their best to +make her explain. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we have to go or Eleanor will faint from hunger," Rosamond said +regretfully as they reached the avenue again and waited for the bus. +"But I'll find out some more about this, if I have to ask Muriel," she +added laughingly. +</P> + +<P> +Sally and Phyllis hurried home. Now that the girls had left them, they +forgot everything but Janet and their plans. They were late in +reaching Sally's home, but they found a dainty luncheon waiting for +them and Sally's mother was delighted to see Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"But where's the twin?" she demanded. "I do want to see her so much. +Sally says she is the very image of you and a darling too." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked uncomfortable and tried to smile. It was Sally who +explained. +</P> + +<P> +"She was coming, but at the last minute she had to go home. Phyl and I +are going over for her a little later and, darling mother of mine, we +will bring her over here to call on you <I>if</I> you promise us hot +cinnamon toast and cake to go with tea." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Ladd laughed and pinched Sally's cheek. She was a tall and +strikingly handsome woman with flashing black eyes and the jolliest +laugh in the world. All Sally's friends loved her almost as much as +they loved Sally, and she was always in demand with Auntie Mogs to act +as chaperone to the various skating and theater parties. +</P> + +<P> +"You are getting very grown up," she answered now, her eyes twinkling. +"Last year it was hot chocolate you wanted and the year before that ice +cream and now it's tea." +</P> + +<P> +"And we really hate it," Phyllis laughed. "We'd lots rather have +chocolate." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, give us chocolate then," Sally exclaimed. "Only be sure +there's plenty of toast." +</P> + +<P> +"For Phyllis's twin, I suppose," Mrs. Ladd laughed. "Very well, I'll +remember," she promised, as she left them to go out. +</P> + +<P> +The girls ate hurriedly and then talked up in Sally's room until they +thought it was time to go back. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do if she won't come?" Sally said seriously. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there's no fear of that," Phyllis replied hastily. "She'll come +if we are there to make her and she will love your mother, I know she +will. I do hope she hasn't gone out anywhere with Auntie Mogs." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's hurry," Sally said, the idea making her feel the need for +immediate action. "If she's out we can wait for her." +</P> + +<P> +But Janet was not out. She was sitting in the library window-seat with +Boru in her lap. She saw the girls coming up the street and she +knocked on the window to them and waved. +</P> + +<P> +"I hoped you'd bring Sally back with you," she called as they ran up +the steps. "Auntie Mogs is out and Boru is too sleepy to be very good +company. I almost went over to get Sir Galahad, but I thought they +might know I wasn't you and refuse to give him to me." +</P> + +<P> +Sally had never heard Janet say so much at one time, and she looked at +her with a new interest. Perhaps she was going to be human after all +and without their aid. She devoutly hoped so. +</P> + +<P> +"We came back especially to get you," she replied as she patted Boru. +"Mother wants you to come to tea with her and incidentally us." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that will be bully," Janet said, and Phyllis had hard work to +believe her ears. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you reading?" she inquired as a book dropped from Janet's lap. +</P> + +<P> +Janet picked it up and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Elsie Dinsmore," she answered, blushing a little. "I found it behind +a shelf in the corner and I have been laughing myself sick over it." +</P> + +<P> +"Laughing?" Phyllis was more surprised than ever. As she remembered +the Elsie Books they were more calculated to make you weep than laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Elsie was always going off into corners to cry. I've just +finished the part where her father made her play a hymn on Sunday and +she had to be carried fainting to her room and I don't know just why +but I began to think I was like Elsie and, well, I think I'm cured," +she ended in confusion. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Janet, of all the silly notions!" Phyllis exclaimed. "Since when +have you been going off into corners to weep?" +</P> + +<P> +"Or fainted at hearing music on Sunday?" added Sally. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I haven't exactly," Janet admitted, "but I have done a lot of +silly sulking, but honestly I didn't realize how silly I was being." +</P> + +<P> +"You never sulked in your whole entire life, Janet Page," Phyllis +protested warmly. "I won't have you saying such a thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not," Sally agreed, no less warmly; "do chuck that silly old +book out of the window and come out for a walk. Bring Boru, too; +mother will adore him." +</P> + +<P> +Janet went upstairs, still laughing, and Sally and Phyllis were left +staring at each other. +</P> + +<P> +"What has come over her?" Sally inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know and I don't much care," Phyllis answered happily. +</P> + +<P> +Janet was humming as she put on her berry cap and pulled it over at a +rakish angle. She had spent a very profitable afternoon laughing at +herself. At first the laughter had been a little too grim, but before +long the grimness had disappeared and only a good-natured ridicule was +left. It is good to be able to laugh at yourself once in a while, but +Janet was glad that the time was over. +</P> + +<P> +She had made up her mind not to tell them about Daphne, that was to be +her secret. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TWINS INDEED +</H3> + +<P> +"Snow!" Every girl looked up as Janet spoke, and a ripple of laughter +ran around the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Janet, did you say that?"—Miss Baxter looked over her thick lens +glasses and focused her pale blue eyes on Phyllis's twin. An expectant +silence fell over the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Miss Baxter,"—Janet rose to answer. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Baxter tapped the desk with her long and callous forefinger. +</P> + +<P> +"Phyllis, I am quite aware that you are answering, and I might add that +this is not the place to practice silly jokes." +</P> + +<P> +A sudden, though quickly suppressed, snort came from behind Sally's +desk, and even Muriel, sitting beside Phyllis, giggled. +</P> + +<P> +"Janet, will you please stand up and speak for yourself?" Miss Baxter +peered a little over the desk, and her face set in hard, uncompromising +lines. +</P> + +<P> +A month had passed since the last chapter, and Janet had found a very +particular place in the school for herself. Once on the right road it +had been only a matter of a few days before the girls accepted her, and +only a matter of weeks before she was one of the leading members of her +class. Her quiet humor and downright frankness made her a welcome +addition to the school, as Sally had prophesied. +</P> + +<P> +She and Phyllis had discovered how easy it was to pass for each other, +and further to confuse people they began to dress alike. Miss Gwynne, +the history teacher, had made a mistake in their identity in class one +day and had laughed about it later to the rest of the teachers. Only +Miss Baxter refused to find the story amusing. She had called it +impertinence, and then and there made up her mind that the same trick +should never be played on her. +</P> + +<P> +This morning her near-sightedness had confused her, but she was certain +that they were trying to trick her and she would have none of it. +</P> + +<P> +"But I am Janet, and I am standing up." Janet had caught some of +Daphne's drawl and used it when she remembered to. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Baxter smiled coldly but triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, if you persist in being childish, then I will ask Phyllis +to stand also." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis rose, and the girls waited breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come to my desk, please," Miss Baxter continued. +</P> + +<P> +They obeyed her, Phyllis slipping her watch with its tell-tale initials +into her pocket as she walked beside Janet to the front of the room and +up to the desk that was raised on a small platform. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Baxter surveyed them with grim determination as she might have a +knotty problem in mathematics. She would not give heed to the small +voice within her that counseled care. Miss Baxter never gave heed to +anything but her own faultless judgment. +</P> + +<P> +"You," she said, pointing to Phyllis, "are Janet and you,"—she frowned +at Janet—"you are Phyllis." +</P> + +<P> +The twins did not reply. They stood before her in respectful silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Janet,"—not being contradicted, Miss Baxter continued with even +more certainty—"you, I believe, spoke." She looked at Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"I was the one that spoke," Janet said quietly. "I said 'snow.' It is +snowing, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"We are not discussing the weather." Miss Baxter tried to silence the +room with the weight of her scorn but she failed. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well then, Phyllis, you may report to me after school." She +prided herself that the interview had been most successful. +</P> + +<P> +"Where, Miss Baxter?" Phyllis inquired. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Baxter gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Janet, is it necessary for you to interrupt?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't interrupting," Janet protested. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Baxter looked from one to the other of them and realized very +slowly and very painfully that she had made a mistake. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back to your seats," she said scornfully. "The matter is too +trivial to discuss." +</P> + +<P> +The twins did not smile; they merely walked backed to their seats and +went on studying. +</P> + +<P> +The bell rang not many minutes later. +</P> + +<P> +"My Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was there ever such a scream. My sides +ache." Sally hugged Janet in the excess of her delight. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out for rocks ahead," Eleanor warned. "Old Ducky Lucky doesn't +like to be laughed at." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you," Phyllis protested; "we didn't laugh at her, did we, Jan?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not. I'd never do anything so disrespectful," Janet +replied. "We merely answered when we were spoken to." +</P> + +<P> +"While Ducky Lucky thought you were answering for each other,"—Sally +chuckled. "Oh, why didn't somebody give me a twin. I never realized +the thrilling possibilities until now." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd put on your watch again, Phyl," Rosamond said. "I feel +so foolish when I look at you sometimes. You're not really alike but I +never can remember which is which." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis slipped her watch on, and all the girls sighed with relief. +</P> + +<P> +Daphne joined the group. +</P> + +<P> +"I offer my congratulations," she drawled. "Sort of a dual role you +were playing. Old Ducky Lucky was more ducky lucky-ish than ever. I +could hear her even from where I sit." +</P> + +<P> +"Just why do you call her Ducky Lucky?" Janet inquired. "I've always +wondered." +</P> + +<P> +The girls turned to Sally. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a long time ago," she began, "since I christened her, but it had +something to do with the way she said, 'Tut, tut'; her teeth, you know, +aren't always tight and the effect sounded just like ducky lucky, and +so I called her that. It's years ago, and of course they fit better +now, but the name still sticks." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sally,"—Janet was convulsed—"she did make a noise just like that +to-day, only I didn't realize." +</P> + +<P> +"But I did,"—Phyllis laughed—"and it was all I could do to keep from +giggling." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness math. is the last period; perhaps she'll have time to +forget," Janet said just as the bell rang. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't count on it," Rosamond called over her shoulder as she went back +to her desk. "Ducky Lucky never forgets." +</P> + +<P> +But mathematics class was uneventful. Miss Baxter ignored the twins, +much to their delight, for they did not have to answer a single +question. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally, you're coming home with us this afternoon, aren't you?" Janet +called as the bell rang. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; can you wait a half a shake?" Sally replied. "I have to take a +paper over to Miss Simmons, but I'll meet you on the steps." +</P> + +<P> +"Snow!"—Phyllis laughed as she and Janet waited for her a few minutes +later—"what a lot you were responsible for to-day. Jan, whatever +possessed you to say that out loud?" +</P> + +<P> +Janet shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know; I suppose I was just +thinking out loud. I was awfully thrilled when I saw it anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I may be your twin," Phyllis mused, "but I don't pretend to +understand you. We did have fun with Ducky Lucky, though, didn't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but she could have gotten beautifully even with us if she had +wanted to,"—Janet laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" Phyllis inquired, but Sally's appearance cut short the +conversation before Janet had a chance to explain. +</P> + +<P> +They walked home through the park, and Phyllis insisted upon going in +to see Akbar. As they entered the lion house, a small body thrust +itself upon her and shouted gleefully: +</P> + +<P> +"I've found you at last! I knew I would. Where have you been all this +awful long time? I've looked for you every single day." +</P> + +<P> +It was Donald, and Phyllis was delighted to see him. She introduced +him to Sally and Janet, and then waited to hear what he would say. +</P> + +<P> +Donald looked at her twin and then at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Vers two of you," he said gravely. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-095"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-095.jpg" ALT=""Vers two of you," he said gravely" BORDER="2" WIDTH="417" HEIGHT="596"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 417px"> +"Vers two of you," he said gravely +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Oh, you darling!" Phyllis exclaimed. "Don't look so disturbed. We're +only twins." +</P> + +<P> +Donald did not reply, he was busy looking at them again. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think you could tell us apart?" Janet inquired. +</P> + +<P> +He nodded solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"I fink I could," he replied, "because, you see, her eyes are like ve +brownie's—all soft and queer"—he smiled engagingly at Phyllis—"but +yours"—he turned to Janet—"have all kinds of funny little gold fings +that make vem all shiny. But I couldn't tell you apart if you shut +your eyes, I don't fink." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Donald, you're a great boy!" Phyllis laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I think he's wonderful," Sally exclaimed, "and the most amazing part +of it is, he's right, Janet has little golden flecks in the brown part +of her eye and you haven't. What a way to tell you apart, but I +promise not to tell." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, not Ducky Lucky anyway," laughed Janet. +</P> + +<P> +Donald's nurse came to look for him, and bore him off in spite of his +protests. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis described her last meeting with him and confessed to Sally that +it had been at his house that she had met Muriel's Chuck. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by the way," Sally suddenly remembered, "Muriel is going to give a +party. Quite an affair, I understand, and we are all going to be +invited. I suppose that Mr. Chuck will be there and a lot of other +boys; have you heard anything about it?" +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis nodded; she and Muriel had forgotten their quarrel and were +seemingly on good terms again, although Sally had taken the place in +Phyllis's heart that Muriel had occupied the year before. With Janet, +they made up what the rest of the girls called the jolly trio. Daphne +occasionally joined them, much to Janet's delight, and many were the +afternoons that they had spent together in the snuggery, a room that +the twins had fitted up to suit their particular tastes at the top of +the house. +</P> + +<P> +They were on their way up to it to-day when Miss Carter heard them and +came out of the drawing-room. +</P> + +<P> +"Late for luncheon," she chided. "You will all be very ill if you are +not careful. Were you kept in?" she questioned, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Auntie Mogs. Phyl just decided she had to see Akbar," Janet +explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't think that was very nice to you, Sally dear," Miss +Carter protested. "Do hurry and eat your luncheon. I told Annie to +keep it hot for you, and, oh, by the way, there are some letters for +you on the hall table." She returned to the drawing-room where she was +listening to the head of a new charity who was trying to secure her +promise of support. +</P> + +<P> +Janet dashed to the table and came back with the letters. +</P> + +<P> +"Both alike and they're from town," she said as she opened hers. +</P> + +<P> +"Muriel's invitations!" Phyllis exclaimed. "And, oh, Sally, do +listen—it's to be a masquerade." +</P> + +<P> +"What luck, oh, oh, why haven't I got a twin!" Sally wailed. +</P> + +<P> +The discussion of costumes occupied the rest of the afternoon, and they +must have reached a happy conclusion for Sally went home singing, and +every time Phyllis and Janet looked at each other that evening they +burst out laughing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SCREENED WINDOW +</H3> + +<P> +The telephone rang insistently, and Phyllis, stretched at ease on the +sofa in the snuggery, looked appealingly at Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"Darling twin of my heart, if you love me go and answer that. I'm so +comfy," she pleaded. +</P> + +<P> +Janet got up slowly from her big chair and looked reproachfully at her +sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Lazy, you're not a bit more comfy than I am, but I will go just to +prove that I have the sweeter disposition." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you, I never doubted it," Phyllis called after her as she ran +down the steps. Then she snuggled deeper into the cushions that were +piled high about her, selected a large chocolate from the box beside +her and closed her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +It was the day before Muriel's party, and it was snowing hard. The +girls had returned wet and cold from school and decided upon spending +the rest of the day indoors. Janet, as usual, had found a book to +read, but Phyllis, after playing with Galahad and Boru, had insisted +upon interrupting, until in sheer desperation she had given it up and +they had discussed the coming masquerade. +</P> + +<P> +"It was Sally," Janet announced, returning from the 'phone. +</P> + +<P> +"And what did she want?" Phyllis inquired. "You know, Jan, we were +awfully silly not to bring Sally home with us." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't tell you what she said unless you get up and hand me those +chocolates," Janet replied as she settled herself once more in the big +tufted chair. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked at the box of candy and then at the distance between it +and Janet. It was too far to reach. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Jan, I'm so tired," she protested. +</P> + +<P> +"All right." Janet opened her book and began to read. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it anything important?" Phyllis inquired, with pretended +indifference. +</P> + +<P> +"Fearfully,"—Janet did not look up from her book as she replied. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis appeared to consider the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me what kind you want and I'll throw it to you," she offered by +way of compromise. +</P> + +<P> +Janet only went on reading. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, if I must, I must!" Curiosity won, and Phyllis got up +slowly, the candy box in her hand. "Only never again allude to +dispositions," she finished as she gave it to Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, dear," Janet said sweetly as she rooted in the bottom of +the box for a nut. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" Phyllis demanded, "what did Sally want?" +</P> + +<P> +Janet finished her candy and selected another before she answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally called up to tell me that our costumes would be ready to try on +at four o'clock to-day and that she would call for us in Daphne's car." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how nice Taffy can be when she wants to." Phyllis was now wide +awake. "Did Sally say when the not-to-be-hurried Miss Pringle intended +to finish our things?" +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow, not later than twelve o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think she really will have them done then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should hope so; she's had them for ages," Janet replied. "Now, +Phil, do keep still and let me read in peace until the girls come, I +have a corking story and I'm just in the middle of the most thrilling +part." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" Phyllis inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"'The White Company,' by Conan Doyle," Janet replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've read that and it is a thriller. I won't bother you any +more." She turned her attentions to the candy box, and then because +she was now too wide awake to dream lazily on the lounge again she went +over to the window and looked out. +</P> + +<P> +The snow had stopped and a cold sun was struggling through a mass of +heavy clouds. She gazed below her idly. A man was on the roof of the +house across the yard. The roof covered an extension that was only one +story high but ran out from the house almost to the end of the yard, +and brought it quite near to the roof of the kitchen of Miss Carter's +house. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis watched the man with lazy interest. He was the caretaker, she +knew, for the family was down South. He seemed to be fitting a heavy +wire screen into one of the smaller windows immediately above the +extension. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, I wonder what he's doing that for?" she said aloud to herself. +"Looks as though they were fixing that room for a baby." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter came in at this minute and put an end to her curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Auntie Mogs, Sally just called up to say that she and Daphne would +come by for us in Daphne's car, and we could all go to Miss Pringle's +and try on our costumes!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, how very nice of Daphne,"—Miss Carter smiled. "I was worrying +about your having to go out on this miserable day." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis laughed and put her arm around her aunt. +</P> + +<P> +"You see there are no two ways about it!" she cried. "We should have a +car of our own and then you would never have to worry about our feet." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Phyllis, you're a great one,"—her aunt laughed. "Well, I'm +afraid I must keep on worrying for we certainly can't have a car." +</P> + +<P> +"Glad of it." Janet, for all her apparent interest for her book, had +been listening with one ear to the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Jan,"—Phyllis looked at her in amazement—"wouldn't you like a +car?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I hate them; silly smelly things—give me a horse every time." +</P> + +<P> +"Old fashioned," scoffed Phyllis. "I'll take a high-powered racer +every time." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter listened and smiled her amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"And you will both have to take a street car,"—she laughed. "Poor +abused children! Hurry along with you, and get ready or you will keep +Daphne waiting." +</P> + +<P> +"There they are now!" Phyllis exclaimed, as the front door bell pealed +merrily. "That's Sally's ring; I know it." +</P> + +<P> +Janet threw down her book, and they went to their rooms in search of +hats. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later they were all in the comfortable limousine, +speeding along uptown. +</P> + +<P> +"It was awfully nice of you to stop for us, Taffy," Phyllis said as +soon as the greetings were over. "This is certainly a whole lot better +than walking." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, isn't it!" Daphne agreed. "I was tickled when mother said I +could have it. It isn't often that I can, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Sally had been looking out of the window, and suddenly she leaned +forward and knocked on the glass and waved. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" she exclaimed. "There's little Donald; isn't he the cutest +youngster?" +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis waved too, then she looked puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny," she said under her breath. +</P> + +<P> +"What is?" Janet demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Daphne looked back at Donald through the window above her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that Donald Keith?" she asked, and Phyllis nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"It is Donald Francis MacFarlan Keith,"—she laughed, "or so he told me +with much pardonable pride. He was most sympathetic when I had to +confess to only two names." +</P> + +<P> +"His father's a friend of my uncle's," Daphne explained. "It's little +Don's cousin, Chuck Vincent, that Muriel walks home with every day. +I've played tennis with him, and he's really rather fun for a boy," she +drawled. +</P> + +<P> +"For a boy?" laughed Janet. "I think boys are a whole lot more fun +than girls." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't," Daphne replied airily. "I think they are all very stuck up. +Chuck is; you'll see that to-morrow night." +</P> + +<P> +"Wonder if Miss Pringle will really have our things ready for us," +Sally said. "She is always so uncertain. If she doesn't, I think I +will die of disappointment." +</P> + +<P> +"You tell her she has to, Daphne," Janet suggested. "You can always +put on such airs, and they never fail to impress." +</P> + +<P> +"Do my best." Daphne accepted Janet's compliment calmly; she knew it +was true. Her drawl did seem to impress people, though she could never +imagine why. +</P> + +<P> +The car stopped before a dilapidated, brownstone house, and the girls +got out and hurried up the worn steps. Miss Pringle herself let them +in. She was a tall, angular woman, with wisps of untidy hair blowing +about her face, and a mouth out of which she could always produce a pin +at a moment's notice. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, young ladies," she said distractedly. "Why have you come?" +</P> + +<P> +"We want to try on our dominoes," Sally said, rather taken aback. +</P> + +<P> +"Dominoes? Oh, yes, yes, to be sure. Step this way." +</P> + +<P> +She led them into a large room, filled with the smell of the kerosene +stove and strewn with patterns and pieces of silks. It was a +cluttered-up place. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they are!" Phyllis exclaimed, going over to the table and picking +up a dress. "Aren't they ducks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't touch, please," Miss Pringle said nervously; "they're only +pinned." +</P> + +<P> +She picked up one of the costumes and beckoned to Sally. +</P> + +<P> +"This is yours, Miss Ladd. Slip it over your head." +</P> + +<P> +The others crowded around and admired. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sally, it's a love!" Phyllis enthused. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle shook her head and sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't understand why you are having them all alike," she complained. +"Now, if you had only consulted me I could have designed such a pretty +one for each of you; but, no, you must have your own way." +</P> + +<P> +"But we want them alike for a special reason," Sally explained. "It's +to be a regular masquerade, you know, and we thought that four costumes +just alike would confuse people,"—she stopped, discouraged by the lack +of Miss Pringle's attention. +</P> + +<P> +The costume was a domino made of strips of colored silks with a big +hood lined with pale yellow. Each stripe ended in a point, and a tiny +bell hung from each one. +</P> + +<P> +The girls tried them on, one at a time, and Miss Pringle pinned and +basted and lengthened and shortened. She had made costumes all her +life and no play at Miss Harding's seemed complete until she had been +consulted. +</P> + +<P> +"What are the other girls going to wear?" Daphne asked indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Grey will have a dear little shepherdess dress, and those two +that are always together, I've mislaid their names in my mind—" +</P> + +<P> +Sally laughed and Phyllis said quickly, +</P> + +<P> +"Rosamond Dodd and Eleanor Schuyler." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, those are the ones. Well, they are going as Jack and Jill, and, +oh, dearie me, I forgot. I know I've done my best for them all, and I +must say they had more faith in my judgment than you young ladies had." +An audible sniff ended the sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, now, Miss Pringle," Sally protested, "we have unlimited faith in +you. Didn't I prove it last year by letting you make a fairy out of me +when I wanted to be a witch? This is a special joke we are having, +that's why we want to be all alike." +</P> + +<P> +"A very poor one, if you ask me,"—another sniff. "I can understand +the Miss Pages, being as how they are twins, but—" +</P> + +<P> +The girls were ready to leave, and Daphne interrupted her politely, but +in her most approved drawl: +</P> + +<P> +"We must all have our dominoes before noon, you know," she said. "As +we are all going to dress at one house and go together, please be sure +they are delivered on time." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, Miss Hillis. I think I can be depended upon to keep my +promises." Miss Pringle spoke huffily, but Daphne only smiled her +slowest smile and nodded graciously as they went down the steps. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis hesitated before she entered the waiting car. A man whom she +recognized as the caretaker of the house just back of theirs ran up the +steps and disappeared in the wake of Miss Pringle's trailing wrapper. +</P> + +<P> +"Wonder how he got here so quickly," Phyllis said to herself, and then +dismissed the subject, at an impatient "hurry up" from Sally. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MASQUERADE +</H3> + +<P> +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot, what a mob!" +</P> + +<P> +The four girls, each in a domino exactly like the others, stood at the +door of the Greys' immense drawing-room and surveyed the scene before +them. It was, of course, Sally who spoke. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis laughed softly. "If you go about saying that, Sally, it won't +be hard to know who you are," she warned. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have to forget Aunt Jane and her poll parrot for to-night," a +voice soft and tinkling drawled. +</P> + +<P> +This time Janet laughed. "How about your drawl, Taffy?" she inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear, this will never do," Phyllis protested. "We will all have +to keep as quiet as possible and only answer 'yes' and 'no.'" +</P> + +<P> +Sally's blue eyes opened wide behind her mask of black satin. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but that won't be any fun at all!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"We might mumble everything we want to say," suggested Janet; "and if +we all do it, it will be more confusing than ever." +</P> + +<P> +"Good idea, 'How do you do this evening; isn't the room beautiful?'" +Daphne mumbled in a monotone. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Taffy," Janet laughed, "even your very best friend wouldn't know +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then let's go in and pay our respects to Muriel; she and her +mother are over there by the other door," Sally suggested, and led the +way. +</P> + +<P> +The room through which they walked was indeed beautiful. Ivory white +woodwork made a fitting frame for the pale gold brocade that hung on +the walls. Ferns and great bowls of roses filled every corner, and the +perfume of the flowers scented the warm air of the room. Two crystal +chandeliers blazed in all the glory of their rainbow colors and +reflected their brilliance in the polished floor. +</P> + +<P> +Groups of girls and boys chattered and laughed and tried to guess the +identity of each other. Every hero and heroine in history was +represented, and they nodded and bowed to dainty Mother Goose folk. +</P> + +<P> +The simplicity of the four dominoes made a strange spot of color as +they walked together towards their hostesses. They were all about the +same height and build, they marched in step, and their bells jingled in +unison. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do," they mumbled as they shook hands. +</P> + +<P> +Muriel Grey, dressed, as Miss Pringle had suggested, in the dainty +pinks and blues of a Dresden shepherdess, stood beside her mother. She +was not masked as her guests were, and her puzzled surprise was plain +to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, who can you be?" she exclaimed. "I have guessed every girl and +boy so far, but I haven't the slightest idea who you are. Please say +something," she begged. +</P> + +<P> +"You look very pretty to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"What a lot of people there are." +</P> + +<P> +"We are all so glad to be here." +</P> + +<P> +"Think hard and you will surely guess." +</P> + +<P> +All four answers were mumbled at once and poor Muriel was more confused +than ever. +</P> + +<P> +"I think your costumes are delightful and it is great fun to have four +unknown guests," Mrs. Grey said. "I shall be watching you all +anxiously when the gong rings to unmask. Don't run away like +Cinderella when you hear it, will you?" she added, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed," a mumble assured her. "We will all come and say 'how do +you do' to you then in our own voices." +</P> + +<P> +Another group, this time of boys, came up, and the four hurried away. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before the guests had all assembled and the music began. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go over there and watch," Phyllis suggested, pointing to a bench +under a palm in the corner. "Then we can see whom we know." +</P> + +<P> +"There's John Steers, dressed as a donkey,"—Sally pointed to a tall, +ungainly boy, who presented a droll aspect as he leaned up against the +wall beside the musicians' platform. His thin body accentuated by the +large donkey's head gave him a top-heavy expression, and the forefeet +that covered his long arms hung dejectedly at his sides. +</P> + +<P> +"He doesn't look as though he were having a very good time," Janet +laughed. "Why doesn't he go and talk to some one?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not John; he perfectly hates and despises parties, but his mother +makes him go to them, and he always stands over by the musicians and +mopes just as he is doing now," Phyllis explained. +</P> + +<P> +"There are Eleanor and Rosamond over there talking to the two boys in +armor,"—Daphne pointed. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I'd have known them even if old Pringle had not told us +their costumes,"—Sally chuckled. "Oh, do look at that boy dressed as +Robin Hood; he is bow legged,"—she went off into convulsions of +laughter, and as the others looked at the very fat and uncomfortable +lad across the room they joined her. They had hardly time to compose +their features before three boys came up to them and bowed. +</P> + +<P> +One, the tallest of the lot, wore a monk's garb of rough brown and the +big hood completely covered his head; his face was hidden by a ghostly +white mask. The one next to him was dressed exactly like the Mother +Goose pictures of Little Jack Horner and he carried a paper pie under +one arm. The last of the trio was the most amusing; his face was +blacked and a wig of kinky black hair stood out in dozens of tiny +braids, each tied with a different colored string. He wore a red and +white calico dress that was just short enough to show his big, clumsy +boots. He made a very deep bow before Sally and said in a high shrill +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"May I have this dance, please, ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +"With pleasure,"—Sally for a wonder did not forget to mumble. She did +not have the slightest idea who her partner was, but then that is the +fun of a masquerade. +</P> + +<P> +"And will you dance with me?" the monk asked in a very solemn tone, +bowing to Janet. +</P> + +<P> +Janet got up and then sat down again very suddenly; there was an +awkward pause, and then she managed to say: +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't know how to dance." Gone was the mumble, gone was every +thought except the misery of the minute. +</P> + +<P> +But the monk, instead of being disappointed, gave a mighty sigh of +relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness for that," he said heartily. "I hate to dance, myself, +so let's go and see if we can't find some lemonade. This hood is so +hot I need something to cool me off." +</P> + +<P> +Janet did not wait to be coaxed. She took the arm he offered her, and +they soon disappeared into the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +Little Jack Horner shifted from one foot to the other in his +embarrassment at finding himself between two girls. At last he said, +</P> + +<P> +"I want to dance with one of you but blest if I can tell which, you are +as alike as two peas. I wish you would stop that mumbling and let me +hear your voices. I bet I know you both." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis and Daphne looked at each other and laughed. Jack Horner had +forgotten, in his eagerness to find out who they were, to disguise his +own voice, and they both recognized him. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Jerry Dodd, we won't stop mumbling; you'll just have to choose as +best you can," Daphne said. +</P> + +<P> +Jerry looked at her curiously; there was something familiar in that +tinkly laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll choose you," he said promptly. "You know me, so I must know +you, and before we have danced half way round the room I bet I can tell +you your name." +</P> + +<P> +"Bet you can't," Daphne teased as she got up. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis watched them whirl away and smiled to herself. Daphne was a +beautiful dancer, and if Jerry had even a grain of sense he would +recognize her light step, for he had danced with her many times at +dancing school. She watched them circle the room once and waited for +them to pass her again. As they neared her she expected to hear +Daphne's familiar drawl, but instead she heard Jerry's pleading voice +say, +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, go on, give a fellow a chance." +</P> + +<P> +The rest of the sentence was lost for a voice close beside her asked, +</P> + +<P> +"Did you find the lemonade?" +</P> + +<P> +She turned quickly to see a knight in shining armor. A golden wig fell +to his shoulders, and a blazing cross covered the front of his tunic. +He wore a small black mask that did not hide his smiling mouth. He +carried a great sword with both hands. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Sir Galahad, I didn't," Phyllis answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's your monk, Friar Tuck; I thought he was with you?" Sir Galahad +inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you?" Phyllis asked sweetly. She was not mumbling, but her voice +was not at all natural and she had no fear of the knight's recognizing +her for she felt quite sure she did not know him. +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't understand. When I last saw you, Howard was going to take +you into the library and teach you to dance and John was going with +you." Sir Galahad was perplexed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yet here I am." Phyllis was hugely enjoying herself. There was no +doubt that he took her for Janet, and she delighted in teasing him. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to tell me that they went off and left you?" Two dark +eyebrows that contrasted oddly with the golden wig came together in a +frown just above the black mask. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps,"—Phyllis threw a note of sorrow into her voice, and her eyes +looked up into his without a hint of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"I never heard of such a thing," he said angrily, and something in the +way he said it brought back a sudden memory to Phyllis and made her +eyes dance. She lowered them quickly, for it was just possible that +Don's cousin might prove as clever as Don. +</P> + +<P> +The knight sat down beside her on the bench and rested his sword beside +him. +</P> + +<P> +"What's your name?" he asked presently. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd never believe it if I told you," Phyllis replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, tell me anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"I am Queen Mab,"—Phyllis dropped her voice to a whisper—"but I am +masquerading as Pierrette, so you mustn't tell anybody." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be silly," was the knight's ungallant reply. "I mean, who are +you really?" +</P> + +<P> +"See, I told you you wouldn't believe,"—Phyllis shrugged her shoulders +daintily. "I dare say you don't believe in fairies nor brownies +either," she ventured, watching him out of the corner of her eye. +</P> + +<P> +The words should have given the knight the hint he wanted, but he was +too cross to understand it just then. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, very well," he said huffily, "if you won't tell me, you won't; but +don't expect me to tell you my name either." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't have to," Phyllis laughed gayly. "I know; it's Chuck." +</P> + +<P> +"Well I'll be darned,"—Sir Galahad stared at her in amazement. "Then +I know you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't say so," Phyllis teased. +</P> + +<P> +He got up and stood facing her, his arms folded. +</P> + +<P> +"Come and get some lemonade," he commanded. "I am going to find out +who you are, never you fear, but I am going to do it in my own way." +</P> + +<P> +They walked to the little alcove where a maid in cap and apron was +busily serving the punch. Chuck kept his eyes fastened on his +companion as if he were determined to penetrate her mask and the saucy +hood that jingled as they walked. He did not look up until they were +at the table and when he did it was to find the monk and the donkey +with—he blinked, not his partner, for she was beside him, but surely +her double. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHUCK GUESSES RIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +Janet and Phyllis looked at each other and smiled. Janet's companions +were as astonished as Chuck. They looked at first one and then the +other of the girls, and then Howard whistled. +</P> + +<P> +"Golly," he exclaimed. It was not a word that fitted his costume but +it exactly suited his confused frame of mind. +</P> + +<P> +"I am seeing double or else I'm going crazy and I don't like the +feeling," he protested. "Somebody pinch me." +</P> + +<P> +Both John and Chuck took him at his word and complied heartily with his +request. The result was a loud but quickly suppressed "ouch" and a +backward lunge that almost upset the table with its precious burden of +lemonade. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck took Phyllis by the arm and almost shook her. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you weren't you; I mean her," he said none too clearly, "but you +let me think you were." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean I let you think I was I. Well, I couldn't very well help +it." Phyllis's tone was apologetic, but her eyes danced. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck looked appealingly at Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"You know what I mean," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, it's perfectly plain," Janet replied consolingly. "You +thought she was me while all the time she was she and me was me,"—the +hodge-podge of pronouns and their ungrammatical use was too much for +poor Chuck. He buried his head in his hands, the picture of despair. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis took the opportunity of exchanging a nod and a sly wink with +Janet that she apparently understood, for without a second's hesitation +she slipped out of her place and Phyllis took it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, anyhow you can dance,"—Chuck lifted his head and looked at +Janet. Howard and John promptly doubled over in a fit of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but I'm so sorry I can't," Janet said demurely. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck looked at Phyllis. "Then neither of you dance, I see," he said +slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I never said I couldn't," Phyllis protested, and Howard, who was +trying to recover his first fit of laughter by drinking a cup of punch, +choked and had to be severely thumped on the back by John. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck looked angry and puzzled for a minute and then he acknowledged +his defeat and laughed good naturedly. +</P> + +<P> +"One of you dances," he said with conviction. "Will she please do me +the honor of dancing this one step with me?" He looked at them both, +not at all sure which one would reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd love to," Phyllis said, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +He took her in his arms and away they whirled. Chuck, unlike most boys +of his age, liked to dance, and Phyllis was as light as the fairy she +claimed to be, so for a few minutes they did not speak, for they were +contented to glide over the waxed floor to the inspiring music. +</P> + +<P> +"I should say you could dance," Chuck said at last. "If your voice was +not entirely different I would say that you were Daphne Hillis." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you?"—Phyllis did her best to imitate Daphne's drawl, and she +succeeded so well that Chuck came to a full stop in the very middle of +the floor and stared at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you Daphne?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis gave a little laugh and lowered her eyes, but she neither +admitted nor denied. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck started to dance again without saying another word, and presently +Phyllis stole a quick glance up at him. She found him staring at her +with a new look in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not Daphne," he said with relief. "Taffy has green eyes and +yours are brown, red brown like autumn leaves." Phyllis gave a little +start, for the words were so like little Don's. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you are not Taffy," Chuck went on. "I might have known you +weren't." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" Phyllis could not help asking. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, because Taffy and I are on the outs, and she wouldn't dance with +me for anything," he replied indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"She might," was all Phyllis would say, her brain already busy with a +plan. +</P> + +<P> +"Too bad your twin doesn't dance," was Chuck's next remark, and for a +minute Phyllis lost step and almost stumbled. He had used the word +without thinking, never realizing how near the truth he was. +</P> + +<P> +"But do look," he exclaimed a second later, "she does; there she goes +with Jerry Dodd, and she dances beautifully too. Whatever made her say +she couldn't?" +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis was speechless with mirth, but she managed to nod to Daphne as +she sailed by, still with Jerry. +</P> + +<P> +The dance ended, it was the fifth of the evening, and the four girls +had all promised to leave their partners and return to the +dressing-room to compare notes when it was over. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis found the others all there waiting for her, for it had been +difficult to find an excuse to satisfy Chuck. He made her promise to +meet him at the bench for the seventh dance before he would leave her +to keep his next dance with Muriel. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, oh, oh, was there ever such a lark!" Sally exclaimed. "I have +danced with five different boys and not one of them guessed who I was, +and yet I know them all and have danced with them scores of times." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you been dancing with Jerry all evening?" Phyllis asked Daphne, +as Janet regaled Sally with a description of the scene by the punch +bowl. +</P> + +<P> +"What else can I do?" Daphne groaned. "He says he won't let me go +until he finds out who I am, and I simply won't tell him. I saw you +dancing with Chuck. How do you like him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, ever so much," Phyllis replied, and then she laughed harder than +ever. +</P> + +<P> +Daphne demanded an explanation, and when Phyllis gave it, together with +her plan, she heartily agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's settled that we all meet at the bench just as the lights go +out before the gong rings to unmask," Sally said, as they started back +downstairs. The rest nodded, and at the door of the ballroom they +separated, each to her waiting partner, rather to a waiting partner. +</P> + +<P> +Sally joined Howard and John in the library, to continue Janet's +dancing lessons, and Janet hurried to the punch bowl to find a jolly +King Cole who had Sally's promise to sit out the dance with him and let +him guess who she was. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck, after leaving Muriel rather unceremoniously, rushed to the bench +beneath the palms, and Daphne greeted him with a smile of welcome. +Phyllis was claimed at once on her appearance by the persistent Jerry, +and they danced off, as Jerry firmly believed, taking up the threads of +their conversation exactly where he and Daphne had left off. +</P> + +<P> +The room was so large that it was surprisingly easy to keep out of one +another's way, and not one of the four boys realized that there were +more than two girls wearing the same kind of costume. +</P> + +<P> +The dance ended, and the girls lost themselves in the crowd, to appear +in person for their next dance, the boys none the wiser. Only John, +with his donkey's head very much awry, noticed a change as he watched +Howard Garth painstakingly teaching Sally the rest of the steps to the +fox trot. Janet had not thought of telling Sally that she was being +very nice to John; she hardly realized it herself; so Sally ignored him +as girls always ignored John, and he noticed it. It took Janet several +minutes to make him forget his grievance when she came back at the +ninth dance to have one more lesson. +</P> + +<P> +The tenth dance had hardly begun before the music slowed noticeably, +and the lights gradually grew dim, the room blurred, and the couples +came to a standstill as darkness descended over them. Four figures +hurried their protesting partners towards the bench under the palm. +They were all there by the time the gong sounded. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the lights blazed on again, and four very surprised boys +stared in bewilderment at the four girls before them. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, now I know I'm crazy!" Howard exclaimed. "So don't bother to +pinch me," he added, as Chuck and John lifted their arms. +</P> + +<P> +Jerry Dodd looked reproachfully at Daphne and wagged his head. +</P> + +<P> +"It was you all the time," he said, "but how could a feller be expected +to know when you talked the fool way you did." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Jerry, are you sure you were dancing all the time with me?" +Daphne's drawl sounded pleasantly on all ears. +</P> + +<P> +"That I am," Jerry replied, with so much certainty that Phyllis and +Daphne shrieked with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Grant Weeks, in spite of the dignity that his King Cole suit gave him, +looked very limp as he sat down on the bench. All he seemed to be able +to say was, +</P> + +<P> +"Sally Ladd—you—you—" The rest was lost in groans. +</P> + +<P> +Up until now Chuck had not spoken. He had stood looking at all the +girls in turn, and particularly at Phyllis and Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"What I want to know is, when did I dance with which?" he demanded so +seriously that the rest laughed with delight. +</P> + +<P> +"And who takes who to supper?" inquired Grant. "Sally, I may not have +danced with you, nor sat out in the conservatory and argued with you, +but I am going to take you in to supper, so come along." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether I ought to go with a boy that doesn't know +whether he knows me or not," Sally laughed, "but I will just this once." +</P> + +<P> +Howard turned to Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"Did I or didn't I teach you to dance?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"You did,"—Janet laughed. "That is, part of the time. Come on, John, +we'll all go down together. I'm awfully hungry." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it," John said to himself, and he smiled even through his +donkey's mask. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis and Daphne were left, and Chuck and Jerry looked at them +uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"What are we going to do about it?" Jerry demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Suit yourself,"—Chuck laughed. "I am going to take—" and here he +paused, for he suddenly remembered that he had never been introduced to +Phyllis and did not even know her name. +</P> + +<P> +"Daphne, introduce us," he begged. +</P> + +<P> +"But we've met already," Phyllis protested. "Have you forgotten?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't mean that silly Queen Mab introduction," Chuck said. +</P> + +<P> +"Neither do I," Phyllis confused him still further by replying. +</P> + +<P> +Jerry took Daphne's arm and hurried her off. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's let them settle it themselves," he said over his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck looked at Phyllis and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Please," he said coaxingly. But Phyllis shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Not unless you promise to believe in Don's brownies," she answered, +and as she spoke she pulled off her hood. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck looked at her and gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," he exclaimed, "you're the girl that brought Don home, and +I saw you one day when I was with Muriel and she told me you were one +of the Page twins and—" he stopped, and Phyllis guessed that the rest +of Muriel's remarks had not been any too sweet. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, take a good look at me," she teased, "for once I leave you, you +will never be able to tell me from Janet." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, won't I?" Chuck replied. "I bet I will, and I'll prove it after +supper." +</P> + +<P> +His chance came a little later. Both girls stood before him, their +hoods thrown back and their eyes laughing up at him. +</P> + +<P> +"It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to Phyllis, "you are +Don's girl," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Don told you the secret," Sally protested. +</P> + +<P> +"He did not," Chuck denied. +</P> + +<P> +"Close your eyes then and turn around," Janet directed. She and +Phyllis changed places, and when Sally called "ready," Chuck turned to +find them still before him but with their eyes tight shut. +</P> + +<P> +"Easy again," he said, and took Phyllis by the hand. +</P> + +<P> +The little group looked at each other in astonishment, for they had all +been baffled, and Daphne said, +</P> + +<P> +"Tell us how you did it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, that's my secret," Chuck replied firmly; "mine and Don's, and I'll +never tell." +</P> + +<P> +And he kept his word, for not until many years later did the Page twins +learn the difference that he saw between them every time he looked at +them. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BLUE MONDAY +</H3> + +<P> +"Phyl, do come away from that window; you've been staring out into the +dark ever since dinner." Janet spoke from the depth of her favorite +chair where, as usual, she was ensconced with a book and Boru. Tonight +Sir Galahad was cuddled down on her shoulder as well, for his own +mistress was restless company. Boru eyed the interloper with open +disapproval. There was a truce of sorts between the two animals; a +truce not in any way to be confused with a peace. Boru's bared teeth +and Sir Galahad's arched back were constant signs that a state of war +existed between them. +</P> + +<P> +"What under the sun are you looking at?" Janet went on impatiently. +"You give me the fidgets." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, read your book," Phyllis said without turning. "I'm only star +gazing." +</P> + +<P> +"Read? How under the sun can I, with Galahad and Boru making faces at +each other under my very nose. Come and take your cat, or I will dump +him on the floor; he's making Boru miserably jealous." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis sighed and turned reluctantly from the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old kittens, didn't his Aunt Jan love him? Well, it was too bad! +Come to his own mistress." She picked up the cat and held him in her +arms. Galahad purred contentedly and rubbed his silky ear against her +soft cheek. +</P> + +<P> +Unconsciously Phyllis returned to the window. There was a light in the +window of the house across the yard. It was the same window where only +a few days ago the caretaker had fitted the wire screen with so much +care. To-night the shade was down, but a shadow passed and repassed, +looming large and mysterious behind it. +</P> + +<P> +"What under the sun is he doing in that room?" Phyllis pondered, +encouraging the mysterious reasons that fitted through her head and +enlarging upon them. +</P> + +<P> +A prodigious sigh from Janet interrupted the most thrilling story of +all, and she gave up and returned to her place on the sofa. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you realize that just forty-eight hours ago we were having the time +of our lives?" Janet demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems years ago to me," Phyllis replied. "What fun it was! I +don't think I ever had a better time at any party I ever went to." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I never went to any other party,"—Janet laughed—"unless you'd +call the church fair at Old Chester a party, and I don't. I call it a +nightmare." She made a wry face as memories assailed her. +</P> + +<P> +"How about the tea party we gave at grandmother's?" Phyllis inquired. +"We had fun at that, wearing each other's dresses, do you remember?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, but I wouldn't call it a party,"—Janet frowned, trying to +think of a better word. "I think it was an experience," she said at +last. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis laughed. "What makes you say that?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you had heard the things those girls said about <I>me</I> to <I>me</I>, +thinking I was you, why, you'd understand," Janet said, and she smiled +a little wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Jan," Phyllis asked suddenly, "tell me something honestly and truly. +Do you ever miss Old Chester?" +</P> + +<P> +Janet thought for a minute and then shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I honestly don't," she said slowly. "And I can't make myself, +somehow." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you try?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sometimes." +</P> + +<P> +"But why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I think I ought to. It seems so thankless of me to go whole +days without even remembering there is such a place." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis jumped up from the couch, tumbling Galahad to the floor and +threw her arms around her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you darling!" she exclaimed. "I could hug you to death for saying +that. You're such a queer dick that sometimes I get scared to death +and think surely you are pining for the country, and then I want to die +of misery. You're so quiet and queer sometimes." +</P> + +<P> +Janet return her twin's hug with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"You want me to be like you," she laughed, "and I never will be. I +suppose I've been quiet so long that it is a habit. I just can't help +thinking long thoughts, I always have, you see, but, oh, Phyl, they're +all happy thoughts these days," [Transcriber's note: line missing from +book.] +</P> + +<P> +"And you don't miss a single person, ever?" Phyllis persisted. +</P> + +<P> +Janet hesitated; she wanted to be quite honest. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," she said at last, "I do miss Peter once in a while; that is, I +wish he were here to talk things over with, and sometimes when I read +something I like awfully much I sort of wish I could tell him about +it," she finished lamely. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis nodded in perfect understanding. She knew that Peter Gibbs +held the same place in Janet's thoughts that her girl friends held in +hers. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I had seen him," she mused. "It's so much more fun to talk +about a person you know than to have to imagine all about them. +Whatever possessed him to run away just before I came? I think it was +downright mean of him, and some day I'm going to tell him so." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him Christmas vacation,"—Janet laughed. "He is going to be with +Mrs. Todd at the Enchanted Kingdom, and so we'll probably see him." +</P> + +<P> +"And so we will probably see him,"—mimicked Phyllis. "I guess there +won't be much doubt about that,"—she yawned, and as if in answer to +her thoughts the clock struck nine. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go to bed; school to-morrow," she said sleepily. "Thank +goodness Christmas is not so very far away. I'm going to lie in bed +just as late as ever I want to, in Old Chester." +</P> + +<P> +Janet smiled to herself. She pictured Martha's shocked surprise at the +very idea of staying in bed just for the fun of it, but she did not +disillusionize Phyllis. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Monday morning is always a restless time at school, for the girls are +all too busy living over the events of the week end to settle down to +lessons, and this particular Monday, coming as it did just after +Muriel's party, made it even harder than ever. +</P> + +<P> +The four girls, Phyllis, Janet, Daphne and Sally, were the center of +attraction, for the rest had only heard in part the story of their +exchange of partners and they wanted it all. +</P> + +<P> +"I heard that Jerry Dodd was sick in bed all yesterday," Rosamond +teased. "He laughed so hard that he broke something in his side." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean he ate so much," drawled Daphne. "I told him if he insisted +upon eating the sixth chicken pattie he would be sorry, and now I hope +he is." +</P> + +<P> +The girls were all sitting on desks as near as they could get to Sally +and Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"Dancing school begins next week," Eleanor announced. "Who's going +this year?" +</P> + +<P> +"You and Janet are, aren't you?" Rosamond asked Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't asked Auntie Mogs yet, but I suppose we are," Phyllis +replied. "How about you, Daphne?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, might as well." Daphne knew all there was to know about +dancing, but she did not consider that any reason for stopping. +</P> + +<P> +"We're going of course," Eleanor said, "and, Sally, of course you'll +come." +</P> + +<P> +But Sally shook her head. She had been unusually quiet, but none of +the girls had noticed it. Now they all looked at her in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but, Sally, why?" Rosamond demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"What's all this?" Madge Cannon stopped to join the group on her way +to senior row. "Sally not going to dancing school? Preposterous! It +won't be any fun without her. What's the trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't be worth while," Sally said shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"Worth while! Sally Ladd, what are you talking about?" Phyllis +demanded. Something in the expression of Sally's eyes made her realize +that she was not joking. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean I won't be here after Christmas," Sally said in a dull level +tone, and she stared straight before her as she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't be here?"—the girls gazed at her in stupefied astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't really mean that you are going to boarding school?" Eleanor +demanded. "You said something about it at the beginning of school but +no one believed you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's true," Sally said dismally. "Mother had a letter this +morning from the head of the school and it's all arranged." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sally—" the girls were speechless, each tried to picture the loss +of Sally, first to herself, and then to the school; then they looked at +Phyllis and Janet and then at Daphne, and realized that their sorrow +could not be compared to theirs. One by one they slipped away, and the +four girls were left alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, do say something," Sally said at last. +There were tears in her voice, and the girls were quick to notice them. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sally, why didn't you tell us?" Phyllis asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't get a chance," Sally replied; "and anyway I couldn't somehow." +</P> + +<P> +Janet put her hand over her friend's and squeezed it. There was +nothing to say. +</P> + +<P> +"It's—it's all wrong,"—there was more feeling in Daphne's voice than +her usual drawl permitted. +</P> + +<P> +The bell fell on their silence a minute later. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the study hour was almost over that Phyllis realized +that Muriel had not come. Sally's news had completely swamped all +other thoughts. She put up the lid of her desk and under its cover +slipped a note back to Janet. She read it and passed it to Sally, who +shook her head and looked puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"Hope she isn't sick," she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +Muriel did not arrive until study hour was over, and the girls were +chatting in the ten-minute interval. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" Phyllis greeted her as she slipped into her seat. One look at +her face made her add: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what is the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +Muriel's eyes were red and swollen, and she looked as though she had +been crying for hours. Phyllis did not show as much concern as she +might have, for it was a well-known fact that Muriel cried very easily. +</P> + +<P> +At Phyllis's question, she buried her head in her arms and started to +sob. +</P> + +<P> +"Something terrible has happened," she managed to say. "I'm so nervous +I simply can't stop crying. I've been interviewed by policemen and +detectives all morning and I am frightened to death." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis put her arm around her consolingly. +</P> + +<P> +"But what has happened, dear? Tell us," she begged. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's too terrible for words!" Muriel was certainly prolonging the +agony. +</P> + +<P> +"What is?" Sally demanded sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Chuck's little cousin has been kidnapped!" It was out, and Muriel +looked up long enough to judge the effect on her hearers and then fell +to sobbing again. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis felt something in her throat contract. +</P> + +<P> +"Little Don?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and, oh, dear, just because I'd seen him in the park yesterday I +had to answer all kinds of questions, and I'm all nervous and tired +out." +</P> + +<P> +The girls looked at the crumpled heap in disgust. It was like the +Muriel of this year to insist on being the central figure. +</P> + +<P> +They went back to their desks in thoughtful silence. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis sat beside Muriel, quite unconscious of her tears; her hands +were clenched, and her eyes saw nothing but Don's impish little face. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MISS PRINGLE +</H3> + +<P> +Chuck was waiting at the corner of the street when school closed that +afternoon, but it was not for Muriel that he watched. He wanted to +talk to Phyllis. He was desperately unhappy and he had to talk to some +one. Boys, even his best friends, were not sympathetic enough. Muriel +would be sure to blub; Chuck had seen her that morning. Daphne would +drawl and that would drive him crazy, so it was for Phyllis that he +waited, sure of her ready sympathy, for she had loved Don. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis came down the steps with Janet and Sally and Daphne, but as +soon as she saw him she left the girls and hurried towards him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Chuck, Muriel has told us about Don, and I want you to know how +terribly we all feel," she said sincerely. "Have you had any news?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only a letter for my uncle, telling him to go to some old house way up +in Bronxville and to bring a lot of money with him," Chuck replied. +"The police tell him not to go, but I think he will; you see the letter +says if he doesn't come that they will hurt Don." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how dreadful, how detestable!" Phyllis exclaimed. "How could any +one be so wicked, and to Don above all people!" Chuck looked at her +quickly. He expected to see tears in her eyes, but instead he saw +anger—flashing burning anger. +</P> + +<P> +"When does the letter tell him to be at the house?" she asked abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"A week from to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not sooner, I wonder." +</P> + +<P> +"Because they figure that the longer Uncle Don has to wait the readier +he'll be to give them what they want. As if he cares how much money it +is as long as he can get Don back again!" Chuck looked down the street +and tried to keep his eyes clear from the tears that had threatened to +flood them all morning. He too was seeing little Don's chubby face. +</P> + +<P> +"My mother is with Uncle Don now," he went on after a minute's pause, +"but there isn't much she can do or say. She's almost as heartbroken +as he is. It—it's pretty tough on the little chap," he ended with a +queer choke. +</P> + +<P> +As they turned the corner, the girls joined them, and added their +sympathy. But Chuck was in no mood to answer their questions, so with +an abrupt "s'long" he turned at the next street and left them. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go up to the snuggery," Janet suggested. "I don't feel up to +much to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Neither do I," Sally said. "I can't think of anything but Don, poor +little mite. I hope they are kind to him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Sally, for pity's sake stop!" Phyllis spoke so sharply that the +girls turned to look at her: her eyes were still flashing but her lip +trembled. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't bear it," she added more softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry," Sally said penitently, and they walked in silence until they +reached the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie Mogs, we're all very unhappy," Janet began as they stopped to +greet Miss Carter in the hall. "Little Donald Keith has been +kidnapped. Muriel Grey cried all through school, and Sally is not +coming back after Christmas." +</P> + +<P> +It speaks well for Miss Carter's understanding of her two nieces that +she did not have to ask for a more concise statement but accepted +Janet's explanation in its entirety. +</P> + +<P> +"How very sad," she said at once. "Poor Mr. Keith must be almost +frantic, and Mrs. Vincent too. I wish there was something I could do, +though I know them so slightly. Sally dear, your mother told me this +morning that you were not going back to school after the holidays and I +am so very sorry. The girls will be desolate without you. How do you +do, Daphne. I am very glad you came home with the girls. I like to +see you four together. Go into the dining-room and have some luncheon +right away," she directed. "Perhaps that will make you feel better. +What are you going to do this afternoon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing special," Janet replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I will ask a favor of you all,"—she followed them to the +dining-room and took her place at the head of the table. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll grant it before we hear it,"—Daphne's drawl sounded very soft +and musical. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," Sally agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Auntie Mogs?" Janet inquired. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter smiled delightedly. +</P> + +<P> +"That's very sweet of you, but wait until you hear what it is I want +you to do. This afternoon my class from the settlement is coming here +for tea after I have taken them to the Art Museum. There are ten of +them; all girls about your own age. I intended to give them chocolate +and cake, as it is so cold to-day, and Annie was going to serve it, but +this morning a telegram came saying her sister is very ill, so Annie is +leaving on the three o'clock train for Buffalo and that leaves only +Lucy. Will you do the waiting and serving for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course, we'd love to," they all answered together. +</P> + +<P> +"I can make delicious hot chocolate," Sally announced, "so I might stay +in the kitchen and help Lucy." +</P> + +<P> +"And have first whack at the cakes; I think not," Daphne replied firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, my Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was ever any one so misunderstood?" +Sally turned to Miss Carter for sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"Never, my dear, I am sure Daphne's suspicions are unjust." Auntie +Mogs laughed. "But I must hurry away or I will be late and that's one +thing my children can't forgive. Poor darlings, they have so few +outings that they hate to waste a minute of their precious time." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you take them to the zoo?" Phyllis spoke for the first time, +her voice sounded very tired but she smiled. "They'd like it a heap +better than the museum." +</P> + +<P> +"No, dear, I think you're wrong. They are all very anxious to see the +pictures," Auntie Mogs replied, "but perhaps we'll stop in for a minute +to see your beautiful Akbar on our way home." +</P> + +<P> +She left them and hurried off, and again an unhappy silence fell upon +them as they finished their luncheon. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go up to the snuggery," Janet suggested; "we don't have to help +Lucy for hours yet." +</P> + +<P> +They climbed the stairs, followed by Boru and Galahad, and finally +settled themselves comfortably in the little room. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's do our math," Sally suggested. "It's awfully hard. Taffy, you +can help us." +</P> + +<P> +They pulled out the table and were soon at work. Phyllis tried to keep +her mind on the problems before her, but her eyes wandered to the +window where she could see that the shade across the yard was still +pulled down. She welcomed Annie's interruption a few minutes later. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, miss," she said, "Lucy finds that there is no chocolate in the +house, so will you please telephone for some and tell them to bring it +over right away." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'll go for it instead, Annie." Phyllis jumped up, glad of an +excuse to be alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, miss." Anne went downstairs, to assure Lucy that the +chocolate would surely be there on time. +</P> + +<P> +"Too bad," Janet said, looking up from her paper. "We'll all go with +you, Phyl." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't bother. The math is coming along so well with Taffy's help, +keep on with it. I won't be a second, and I don't mind going alone a +bit. I'll take Boru with me; he looks as though he wanted a run. How +about it, old fellow?" +</P> + +<P> +Boru wagged his tail, looked at Janet, and then followed Phyllis, +barking lustily. +</P> + +<P> +Once in the air with the stiff chill breeze in her face and Boru +frisking beside her, she threw off some of the depression that was +making the day horrible. The grocery was only a couple of blocks away, +and she soon had her package and was on her way home. +</P> + +<P> +As she turned the corner she found herself face to face with Miss +Pringle. She was carrying a heavy suit case. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what are you doing in this neighborhood?" she asked, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle stopped, started forward and stopped again. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—er—er—I—how do you do?" she stammered, so plainly ill at ease +that Phyllis looked at her in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"We had a wonderful time at our masquerade," she said in an attempt to +make conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, to be sure, dear me, good-by, young lady—I—" She was +indeed flustered, and Phyllis could hardly repress a smile, for Miss +Pringle's hat was well over one ear, and the dotted veil that should +have covered her face was whipping itself into ribbons off the back of +her head. +</P> + +<P> +"But you haven't told me what you are doing down here?" Phyllis +insisted. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle looked really troubled. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't, indeed I can't, young lady," she almost cried. "I must go—I +must indeed." She hurried on, keeping to the inside of the street and +gazing about her furtively. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, what under the sun is old Pringle up to?" Phyllis mused. "I +never saw her so flustered. Well, come on, old man, let's take a +little walk before we go in. They'll never miss us, and you needn't +tell Galahad." +</P> + +<P> +Boru looked up and cocked one ear rakishly, as though he thoroughly +enjoyed the joke. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, sir." Ten minutes later Phyllis gave the command, and Boru +stopped running so suddenly that he almost tripped on his nose. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis slipped her hand under his collar and pulled him behind the +high stoop that they were just passing. She had seen Miss Pringle +coming towards them almost a block away, and she had no desire for +another conversation with her. She watched her approach, wondering +where she was going, and hoping that she would enter some house before +she reached their hidingplace. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle was still walking close to the houses and seemed to be in +a terrible hurry. Her hat bobbed more than ever, and the short coat +she wore bulged out in the wind, making her indeed a comical figure. +</P> + +<P> +When she reached a house that was boarded up, she paused and looked +quickly behind her. It looked as though she were alone on the street. +Phyllis watched her, interested in spite of herself, and saw her bob +down and disappear into an area way. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," she said to Boru, as she loosed him from her hold, "I +might have known where she was going. The Blaines' caretaker must be a +relation of hers. I saw him at her house that day. She must be going +to stay with him. But why under the sun was she so mysterious about +it, I wonder? And why doesn't she stay in the basement instead of +occupying Miss Amy's dressing-room, and why the screen?" +</P> + +<P> +Still very much puzzled, she walked home. The immediate preparations +for the tea party occupied her for the remainder of the afternoon. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A WHITE MITTEN +</H3> + +<P> +Days passed, and still no news of little Don. Chuck now made it a +habit to wait for Phyllis and walk home with her and Janet. +</P> + +<P> +Each day the greeting was the same. +</P> + +<P> +"Any news?" and always Chuck shook his head and answered, "Not yet." +</P> + +<P> +Friday morning Janet woke up with a sore throat and a headache, and +Miss Carter kept her home. Phyllis went to school as usual, and in the +afternoon Chuck met her. +</P> + +<P> +"The week's almost up," he said after the usual question had been asked +and answered, "and Uncle Don is determined to go on Monday with the +money. He's had a letter since the first, you know, telling him to +double the sum." +</P> + +<P> +"Will they have Don there at the house waiting for him?" Phyllis +inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed. There's not a word about that. The detectives say that +they will probably try to take the money by force; perhaps knock Uncle +Don senseless. They don't want him to go, but they have to admit that +they haven't a single clew." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Chuck, isn't it hateful not to be able to do a single thing to +help?" Phyllis's voice rang with real emotion. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet," Chuck agreed. "I lie awake at night thinking all kinds of +things and planning what I'd do if I ever caught those brutes, but that +doesn't do much good. I wish Uncle Don would let me go with him on +Monday. I'd take a gun along and do a little holding up on my own +hook."' +</P> + +<P> +"But that would only make things worse; they'd be sure to do something +awful to Don then," Phyllis reasoned. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose so," Chuck was forced to admit. "I don't suppose I'll see you +to-morrow, will I?" he added. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" Phyllis inquired. "Come over to the house in the afternoon +and we can go for a walk." +</P> + +<P> +Chuck looked at her gratefully. "Thanks, guess I will; I'll be over +about two." He lifted his cap as they reached the steps of the house +and turned to go. "Tell Janet I'm sorry she is sick," he called back, +and Phyllis nodded as Annie opened the door. +</P> + +<P> +She found Janet up and dressed, but playing the invalid up in the +snuggery. +</P> + +<P> +"Any news?" she called, as she heard Phyllis's step on the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet, and the week's almost up," Phyllis replied sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you walk home with Chuck?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and he said he was very sorry you were sick and he sent you his +love." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, but what are they going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis gave a little shudder. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't use that awful word '<I>they</I>,'" she said. "It always means the +kidnappers to me, and somehow or other every time I hear it I seem to +see bandits with gold ear-rings and red handkerchiefs tied round their +heads, and they are always doing something horrible to little Don." +</P> + +<P> +"I know," Janet agreed sympathetically, "only I don't think of <I>they</I> +as that kind of bandit. I wish I did. It wouldn't be half so hard to +find them and have a real old fight, but these creatures that have +stolen Don are men and they look just like everybody else." +</P> + +<P> +"Except inside," Phyllis added. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, but their insides don't help. We can't see anything but +their everyday outside looks," Janet reminded her. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis was thoughtful for a little, then she said slowly, "I'm sure I +don't know why I should feel so terribly about it; worse than the rest +of you, I mean, but somehow I do. Don was such a darling that day that +I met him in the park, and I've sort of loved him ever since, and now +to think that he's shut up somewhere and can't get out, and that +perhaps he's being badly treated and starved. Oh, Jan, I just can't +bear it, and if I feel like this just imagine his poor father!" +</P> + +<P> +"But surely they—the detectives—will find him,"—Janet tried to +console; "and anyhow Monday something is bound to happen." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and worrying won't help, and it's unkind to you, poor +darling,"—Phyllis smiled with determination. "How is the throat, and +the head by this time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, loads better. I feel perfectly well; but it's such fun being an +invalid. I told Annie to bring luncheon up here. Auntie Mogs is out +and I waited for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Angel, you must be starved to death, but here comes Annie now. I can +hear her venerable boots creaking up the stairs." +</P> + +<P> +Annie appeared with a tray, and Phyllis busied herself putting the +table where Janet could reach it comfortably. +</P> + +<P> +"Filet of sole and that nice sauce that Lucy knows I love; how nice." +She sat down opposite Janet, and for the time being gave herself up to +cheering her. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally and Daphne are coming over to-morrow morning. They both sent +their love and everybody was so, so sorry you were sick. I had to +answer questions all morning. Even old Ducky Lucky said she hoped +you'd be better, though I really think she has grave doubts as to +whether I was not masquerading as you." +</P> + +<P> +Janet laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought I could miss school so much," she said, "but it has +seemed ages since you left. Auntie Mogs has been an angel; she read to +me all morning and only went out because I simply made her." +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon wore on slowly. Phyllis did not go out, but insisted on +reading aloud to Janet. +</P> + +<P> +In the middle of the afternoon the room grew stuffy, and she went to +open the window. Of chance she looked down on the roof below her and +just across the yard. Something white caught her eye. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-159"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-159.jpg" ALT="Something white caught her eye" BORDER="2" WIDTH="411" HEIGHT="598"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 411px"> +Something white caught her eye +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Jan, come here a second," she said breathlessly, and Janet hurried to +her side. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Look down there," Phyllis pointed. "What do you see?" +</P> + +<P> +Janet looked. "Why, it seems to be a white mitten," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis faced her squarely, her breath was coming in short little +gasps. For a second Janet did not understand, then the bond of +understanding that so closely bound them, as twins, together made her +see what was going on in Phyllis's mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Don?" she asked quietly. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis nodded and stared harder at the tiny mitten, and her thoughts +raced. For Janet's benefit she voiced them. +</P> + +<P> +"The wire screen, first, then Don talking to the caretaker." +</P> + +<P> +"When?" Janet interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"The day we went in Taffy's car up to Miss Pringle's. Then I saw him. +As we left he went in. Then last Monday, remember, I told you I saw +Miss Pringle go in that house?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you described her hat and the funny way she acted." +</P> + +<P> +"And now there's a baby's mitten under the window. Of course it +doesn't prove anything but—" Phyllis broke off abruptly and went out +of the room. When she returned she had a pair of field glasses with +her and she looked at the roof through them. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a blue band on the edge of it," she said, handing the glasses +to Janet. "Look, and don't leave the window until I get back," she +directed. +</P> + +<P> +She hurried to the telephone and got the Vincents' house on the wire +and asked to speak to Chuck. His voice answered her after a little +wait. +</P> + +<P> +"Chuck, this is Phyllis Page speaking," she said. "I don't want to +give you any false hopes, but something queer has happened. I've found +a little white mitten, and I think it belongs to Don. No, don't ask +questions. I haven't time to answer them. Just find out from Don's +nurse what his mittens were like and then come straight over here, and +be sure not to say anything to your mother or your uncle, for I may be +all wrong." +</P> + +<P> +She hung up the receiver before Chuck could reply and hurried back to +the snuggery. Janet was still looking out of the window as though she +feared the mitten might fly away if she took her eyes from it. +</P> + +<P> +They waited until the door bell announced Chuck's arrival. Phyllis +flew down the stairs to meet him. +</P> + +<P> +"Here," he said, by way of greeting and he handed her a white mitten. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis took it eagerly; it had a blue border, and it was handmade +after a pattern of long ago. +</P> + +<P> +"Nannie always makes them," Chuck explained. "Where's the one you +found?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come up here and I'll show you." +</P> + +<P> +Janet gave the glasses to Chuck as soon as he entered the snuggery and +Phyllis pointed to the roof below and using as few words as she +possibly could she explained about the caretaker and Miss Pringle. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to get that mitten," Chuck announced. "Is there a window +below this to your roof?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, from the butler's pantry," Phyllis told him. "You could crawl +along the fence to that roof easily. It's only a little way." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll do it now," Chuck decided. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but you mustn't," Phyllis protested. "If any one saw you from one +of the windows they'd know what you were doing and then all sorts of +awful things might happen." +</P> + +<P> +Chuck reluctantly agreed, and they all thought hard for the next few +minutes. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I have it," Phyllis said at last. "There are only two people +in the house that we know of, the caretaker and Miss Pringle. Now if +some one rang the bell when the caretaker was out, Miss Pringle would +have to come to the door. That would leave the coast clear for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," Chuck prompted. +</P> + +<P> +"There's nothing else," Phyllis answered. "We will just have to wait +until the caretaker goes out." +</P> + +<P> +Chuck groaned at the thought of time wasted. +</P> + +<P> +"When's that likely to be?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"About sunset. He takes care of some of the furnaces in the +neighborhood, so he'll be gone for quite a while," Phyllis told him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go and watch at the corner," Chuck decided. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do if you find the mitten is Don's?" the +practical Janet asked, and Phyllis and Chuck looked at each other. +</P> + +<P> +"Notify the police," Chuck said at last, but Janet shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"It might be too late. Miss Pringle's sure to be suspicious if Phyllis +rings the bell and then has nothing to say, and she may take Don away." +She spoke as though the mitten had already been identified. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you," said Phyllis. "Chuck, you watch at the corner, and +when you see the caretaker go you come back and go over the roof. I'll +ring the bell then and I'll talk my head off to Miss Pringle. If the +mitten is Don's, you climb up to the window. We've a ladder in the +cellar." +</P> + +<P> +"And I can take it across the yard and help you haul it up," Janet +announced. "It's not a bit heavy." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," Chuck said again. +</P> + +<P> +"You go into the room and get Don and—" Phyllis paused; the window +seemed at a dizzy height now that she thought of it as a descent for +Don. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take him downstairs and straight out the front door," Chuck +exclaimed. "I'd like to see a dozen Miss Pringles stop me." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked at him and decided that it would indeed take more than +the weak flutterings of the old costume-maker to stop him. +</P> + +<P> +He hurried down the stairs, and they heard the door slam behind him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DON! +</H3> + +<P> +"We'd better get the ladder," Janet suggested. +</P> + +<P> +They went down into the cellar and found it close by the door. It was +only a matter of minutes before they had it waiting in readiness in the +yard. Luckily Annie and Lucy were too busy preparing supper to notice +them. +</P> + +<P> +They were back in the house just in time to meet Chuck. +</P> + +<P> +"He's gone," he announced, "and there was another man with him, and I +heard him say he was due down town by five o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure he was the caretaker?" Phyllis inquired, and Chuck gave a +satisfactory description. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'm off," she said as she hurried into her coat. "Give me time +to get there before you start." +</P> + +<P> +She hurried to the house on the next street and rang the bell +violently, and waited; then she rang it again, three short rings. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I can make her think it's a telegram," she thought, and her +scheme was rewarded, for after a little wait she heard some one +scuffling downstairs. The door creaked as the bolt was drawn back, and +then it opened a crack. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want?" Miss Pringle's voice quavered as she asked. +Phyllis put her foot in the crack as she had seen villains do in the +movies. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I just came around to see you for a minute, Miss Pringle," she +said sweetly. "I saw you come in here the other day, so I knew where +to find you and so to-day when the girls were wondering what had become +of you I told them I knew and they asked me if I would come and see you +and ask you if you would make the costumes for our Christmas play. +It's to be a queer sort of play, and we want very original costumes, +and, of course, you are the only person in the world that can advise +us." Poor Phyllis was forced to pause for breath, but Miss Pringle had +only time to whisper a flurried, "Oh, no young lady," before she was +off again. +</P> + +<P> +"The play is all about India and the heroine—Daphne Hillis is to take +the part—is a little slave, but of course she turns out to be the +queen in the end, and Madge Cannon is to be the prince, and the +important parts will be filled by the seniors and juniors. Just a few +of our class are to be in it, but I'm one of them and so is my twin. +We look so alike that we are to be pages, you know, and,—" a sound on +the stairs made her heart stand still but she went bravely on—"I never +told you what a lark we had at our masquerade, did I? It was really a +perfect circus, everybody mixed us up,"—Miss Pringle attempted to say +something, and Phyllis interpreted it her own way. +</P> + +<P> +"But of course you're more interested in the play, as you say. Well +there have to be ever so many costumes. Daphne alone has three, one +when she is the slave and another for the queen, and the third when the +king condemns her to be beheaded. It's so sad, you know. He says 'Off +with her head' and then Daphne lays her beautiful head on the block and +the executioner lifts his terrible sword and—" she stopped. +</P> + +<P> +Daphne's fair head was saved by the timely arrival of Chuck, carrying +the sleeping Don. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle gave a scream of terror and tried to shut the door, but +Phyllis's foot made that impossible. +</P> + +<P> +"Out of my way," Chuck commanded in a voice so strong that, coming as +it did on top of Phyllis's description of swords and executioners, poor +Miss Pringle lost all the little presence of mind she had. She fell +back limply, and Chuck gained the street. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis took her foot out of the door and closed it gently on the limp +figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Give him to me," she begged, as she caught up with Chuck. +</P> + +<P> +"He's too heavy, but look at him all you want to; it's really Don, +Phyllis, and you found him." Tears were running down Chuck's face, but +he didn't even know it. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis took one of the little hands that hung limply across his +shoulder and kissed it gently. +</P> + +<P> +At the corner they found Janet, and a big burly policeman who was just +hanging up the receiver of a police 'phone attached to the telegraph +pole. +</P> + +<P> +"So you've found the little man, glory be!" he exclaimed. "It will be +a pill for the force to swallow, but they deserve it! To think I have +passed that house every day and never suspected. Well, I'll be after +making up for lost time now by watching it like a cat until his nibs +comes home and then off he'll go!" +</P> + +<P> +"And the woman?" Phyllis inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, she'll go with him to keep him company,"—the policeman grinned +at what he really considered fine wit, tightened his belt importantly +and grasping his night stick more firmly he walked down the street and +stopped in a business like way before Miss Pringle's door. +</P> + +<P> +The girls escorted Chuck back to the house. Auntie Mogs had returned +during their absence and met them at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Children, where have you been? I have been so worried—" She stopped +abruptly, as her eye fell on Chuck and his precious armful. +</P> + +<P> +"Not little Don?" she asked excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Auntie Mogs, we've found him." Phyllis's explanation tumbled out +in hysterical phrases, the other two adding their own version, and in +the midst of it Don woke up. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to go home," he said sleepily and then, seeing Chuck, he opened +his blue eyes wide in wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"Give him to me," commanded Auntie Mogg, and she hugged him tight in +her arms as she comforted and petted him. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck, almost too excited for speech, called up his mother on the +'phone. +</P> + +<P> +"Come straight over to Miss Carter's and bring Uncle Don with you," he +said excitedly. "We have news for you, wonderful news." +</P> + +<P> +He left the 'phone, grinning. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess Mother had her hat on before she hung up the receiver,"—he +laughed. "She didn't even wait to say good-by." +</P> + +<P> +"No wonder," Auntie Mogs said, her lips brushing Don's gold hair. +</P> + +<P> +"I want my daddy," Don announced. "I want to tell him lots of fings +about that bad mans and that silly old woman who said she was my nurse. +I told her she was not any such fing 'cause Nannie's my nurse, isn't +she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course she is, darling," Miss Carter assured him. +</P> + +<P> +Don looked about him and smiled suddenly at Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"You're my girl," he said, dimpling, "and that's your twin." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis was on her knees beside him in a minute, and he rumpled her +hair contentedly until Annie ushered in Mrs. Vincent and Mr. Keith, all +out of breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Chuck, what is it?" Mrs. Vincent asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +For answer Miss Carter put Don into her arms. +</P> + +<P> +The next few minutes were taken up by repeated explanations, while Don, +held tight by his father's big hand, helped out by many illuminating +bits of information about "ve bad mans and the silly woman." +</P> + +<P> +"And I have you to thank, my dear." Mr. Keith held out his hand to +Janet as they rose to go. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck laughed, "Wrong guess, Uncle. This is the one," and he pointed +to Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Keith laughed, and took Phyllis's hand and gave it a mighty squeeze. +</P> + +<P> +"Some day I will thank you for what you have done for me," he said +huskily, "all of you. You have made me the happiest man in the world." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Vincent kissed both the girls, and there was a glint of tears in +her soft gray eyes as she shook hands with Miss Carter. +</P> + +<P> +Chuck was the only one who was quite master of himself. He nodded, as +befitted a hero, to them all, until he came to Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"S'long," he said, taking her hand. "I'll see you to-morrow at two." +</P> + +<P> +"So will I," Don's baby voice called from the depth of his father's +shoulder; "and every day after that as long as I ever live," he added +stoutly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHRISTMAS VACATION +</H3> + +<P> +After Don's discovery, things settled down into their normal course, +and the days followed one another in a monotonous row. Weeks passed, +and with the first really cold snap came the Christmas holidays. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter and the two girls started on a Friday afternoon for Old +Chester. There was only one cloud on their happy day and that had been +the last good-bys to Sally, who, with Daphne, had come down to the +station to see them off. +</P> + +<P> +"I simply refuse to think of school without her," Phyllis said, as the +train pulled out of the tunnel and roared through the northern end of +the city. +</P> + +<P> +"Not only school," sighed Janet, "but afternoons and Sundays. No more +skating parties at the rink, no more walks in the park, and no more +Saturday evenings at the movies, with Sally to make us laugh at the +wrong places." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come, children, it's not as bad as that," Miss Carter protested. +"Sally will be home for the Easter holidays, and June isn't so very far +away." +</P> + +<P> +"But we are going to Tom's in June," Phyllis reminded her. +</P> + +<P> +"And when we come back Sally will be going back to that hateful old +school again," Janet added tragically. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear, dear, dear," laughed Auntie Mogs; "it's a very black world, +isn't it? I wonder, if I told you a secret, if you would cheer up and +see the sun shining once more?" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?"—the girls leaned forward eagerly; they had caught the +note of mystery in their aunt's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Auntie Mogs very solemnly, "it's only the beginning of a +secret, so you mustn't take it too seriously; but, just for fun, +suppose that next year Sally didn't go back to school alone; suppose +the Page twins went with her." +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie Mogs!" Phyllis and Janet exclaimed so loudly that several +people in the parlor car turned to look at them, and one old gentleman +winked above his open paper. +</P> + +<P> +"I only said suppose," Auntie Mogs reminded them, and she picked up her +paper with the most casual air in the world and began to read. +</P> + +<P> +It is not difficult to imagine what the topic of conversation was +during the rest of the trip. In fact, they were still talking about it +as they drew in to the station. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope I see somebody I know!" Janet exclaimed, as they followed the +porter with their bags; "but I don't suppose I will. It's exciting, +just the same; I feel as if I were dreaming," and she sighed happily. +</P> + +<P> +Dreaming or not, it is certain that she was totally unprepared for the +sight that awaited her on the little platform. All Old Chester seemed +to be waiting to welcome her, and she stood looking at them in a daze. +</P> + +<P> +The Blake girls and their mother were almost under her feet as she +stepped from the train, and Martha was just behind them. Harry +Waters's grin of welcome seemed a thing apart from his freckled face as +he took the bags away from the porter, his mother directing him fussily +the while. And off, a little to one side, stood Mrs. Todd, tall and +mannish as ever, but smiling her heartfelt welcome. +</P> + +<P> +There was a hub-bub of greetings that lasted for several minutes, then +Mrs. Todd took command of affairs in her usual masterly way. +</P> + +<P> +"Come along, Moggie, and call those children or we'll never get home. +My carriage is waiting just around the corner; the horses don't like +the train, sensible beasts, so Peter had to hold them. I suppose he's +died of impatience by now though," she added, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Go with Mrs. Todd, dearie," Martha directed as she had always done. +"I am going home with Tim and the trunks, and I'll be there before you." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," Janet agreed, smiling. It did seem good to hear her old +nurse's orders again. "Come on, Phyl," she called. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis nodded good-by to the Blake girls and joined her. +</P> + +<P> +"If Sally were here she would call on Aunt Jane's poll parrot to +witness the mob,"—she laughed. "Aren't you proud, Jan?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit. Why should I be? They came to welcome you just as much as +they did me." +</P> + +<P> +They joined their aunt and Mrs. Todd and walked to the back of the +station, where Harry, with Peter's aid, was stowing away the bags. +</P> + +<P> +Janet could hardly believe her eyes, for it was a changed Peter indeed. +Gone were the faded blue overalls and the torn straw hat; a +well-fitting overcoat and a cap took their place, but they did not +succeed in hiding the mop of hair or the merry blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, fairy princess," he greeted and then stopped, confused, as both +girls smiled up at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, which are you?" he demanded, and Janet held her breath. Would +he, or wouldn't he know her? +</P> + +<P> +A clear, jolly laugh reassured her. +</P> + +<P> +"You had me guessing for a minute, but now I know." He took Janet's +hand and wrung it. "It's great to see you again," he said, still +smiling. +</P> + +<P> +Janet introduced Phyllis and Miss Carter, and they all got into the +carriage. +</P> + +<P> +"Come and see us to-morrow, Harry," Janet called, as they drove off. +</P> + +<P> +"Morning, you betcha," Harry answered, waving his hat. +</P> + +<P> +"Child, don't make too many plans," Mrs. Todd warned. "Peter and I +have filled up as much of your time as we dared." +</P> + +<P> +"And we dared an awful lot," Peter added, laughing. "Fact is, I don't +think we left you more than a few minutes a day." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, tell us what we have to do?" Janet begged. +</P> + +<P> +"One thing at a time," Peter replied gravely. "In case you forget, +to-morrow, if your Royal Highness so pleases, you are to take lunch +with us and inspect your domain. You will find many changes, but I +think you will approve of them all." +</P> + +<P> +"Not the Enchanted Kingdom?" Janet protested. +</P> + +<P> +"No, that is almost exactly as you left it," Peter assured her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Jan, I can see the house," Phyllis called, as they left the tiny +village behind them, and Janet's heart beat so fast as she recognized +the two big chimneys that looked, in the twilight, as though they were +swinging the widow's walk between them, that she thought she would +surely suffocate. +</P> + +<P> +Peter drew up to the old carriage block with a flourish, and they all +jumped out. Martha was standing in the doorway to welcome them again. +They said good night to Mrs. Todd and Peter, and promised to be ready +when the carriage called for them the next day. +</P> + +<P> +Janet walked up the garden path holding tight to Phyllis's hand, as +though she feared to wake up. Everything in the house was exactly as +she had left it. The old grandfather clock ticked out its steady song, +and the polished table reflected the shining candlesticks as of old. +</P> + +<P> +Janet looked at her grandmother's door half fearfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Go upstairs and take off your wraps," Martha was saying, "and then +come down. Your grandmother wants to see you before dinner." +</P> + +<P> +Janet still held Phyllis's hand, as a few minutes later she knocked at +that closed door. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Page proped herself up on her elbow and surveyed her two +granddaughters; her small bright eyes seemed more restless than ever. +They roved all over the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what have you got to say?" she demanded in the old querulous +tone. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, Grandmother?" Janet spoke first, and she laid her hand +timidly on the withered one that lay on the white counterpane. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Grandmother; it's awfully nice to see you again. How are you?" +Phyllis, undaunted as always, leaned and kissed the withered cheek. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Page laughed, a hard cackling laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"You're as alike as two peas," she said, "but there's a mighty +difference. Janet, you haven't changed much," she added. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but I have," Janet insisted, forgetting her self-consciousness for +the moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you don't show it," her grandmother snapped, and before Janet +could stop she heard herself saying, "Yes, Grandmother," in the +patient, respectful voice she had always used. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like us dressed alike?" Phyllis inquired cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Your hair's mussy," Mrs. Page replied shortly. "Why don't you braid +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but it's so much more becoming this way," laughed Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"Fiddlesticks!" The word seemed to terminate the interview, for after +it was uttered Mrs. Page turned over, her face to the wall. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, Grandmother," Janet said softly, but Phyllis lingered long +enough to ask, +</P> + +<P> +"Are you quite comfy, dear? Sha'n't I push this pillow so?" she won a +grudging "good night" for her pains. +</P> + +<P> +After supper the girls went up to the widow's walk. It was a cold, +clear night, myriad stars winked down at them from the ice-blue sky, +below them the water lapped the beach incessantly, and the foam +sparkled in the starshine. +</P> + +<P> +The girls watched it in silence for a minute, and then Phyllis said, +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me something, Jan; does New York seem like a dream now that +you're back or does Old Chester?" +</P> + +<P> +"Old Chester does," Janet replied after a little; "it all seems as +though my life here was a million years ago, instead of three short +months. I wonder why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because you're happier in New York, my angel child," Phyllis declared +happily. "And now let's go down again. I love your widow's walk, but +I am frozen to death." +</P> + +<P> +They went down together and found Auntie Mogs sitting before the fire +in the living-room, roasting chestnuts, while Martha stood in the +doorway and offered suggestions and gossip. +</P> + +<P> +It was late before they went to bed, but when Janet finally fell asleep +she was still holding Phyllis's hand in her firm grasp. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM +</H3> + +<P> +"If the ice didn't choke up the inlet I would row you over to your +kingdom, Princess," Peter said the next morning, as Janet took her +place beside him in the carriage. "It would seem ever so much more +like old times, wouldn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Janet nodded and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed it would. I wonder where my old row-boat is. I left it on the +beach." +</P> + +<P> +"And I found it there, very much the worse for wear, and in sad need of +a home," Peter continued for her. "So I towed it over to our landing, +and now it is high and dry on the rafters in the barn, along with my +canoe." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter, do you remember the day you taught me to paddle?" Janet +asked, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly do. I wasn't perfectly sure that we would ever get home +again; that storm came up so suddenly." +</P> + +<P> +"But we did, just in time to be arrested." They both laughed so hard +at the memory of that never-to-be-forgotten day that Phyllis, in the +back seat with Auntie Mogs, called, +</P> + +<P> +"What are you two roaring over?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, something funny that happened last summer," Janet replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you ever told your sister about it?" Peter inquired, and Janet +shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll tell you, Phyllis," Peter promised; "but I'll wait until we +are on the scene of action." +</P> + +<P> +"There are a lot of things I want to ask you,"—Phyllis laughed, "and a +lot of places I want to see. Jan's no good at telling stories, she +leaves out all the most interesting part." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you shall have a true and minute description from me, never +fear," Peter told her. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me drive," Janet begged a minute later, and Peter changed places +with her, and for the rest of the drive he talked to Phyllis and Auntie +Mogs, for Janet was too taken up with the spirited team to have any +time for conversation. +</P> + +<P> +The Enchanted Kingdom presented a strangely orderly view. The road was +trim and the gravel raked smoothly. The barns and outhouses were +painted white, and they looked surprisingly clean against the gray sky. +The house itself had lost all its rakish and forlorn look, though it +retained, in spite of paint, its inviting air of mystery. +</P> + +<P> +Gone were the dilapidated boards that had barred the windows, and white +curtains fluttered in their stead. Green box-trees guarded each side +of the white door, whose brass knocker shone in proof of the care +lavished upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what does the Princess think about it?" Peter demanded, +delighted at Janet's look of surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd never have recognized it," she confessed. "What a lot you have +done to it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Come and see the inside. That's the best of all," Peter told her. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Todd welcomed them from the doorway, and the tour of inspection +began at once, for Janet would not hear of taking off her hat and coat +until she had seen everything. +</P> + +<P> +"All right; we'll leave the kingdom till the last," Peter said, as he +followed Mrs. Todd from room to room. +</P> + +<P> +Beautiful old furniture stood where Janet remembered the sheeted ghosts +that had frightened her so many times. Gay chintz curtains vied with +the copper and brass to liven the rooms that had always been shrouded +in darkness. Upstairs the bedrooms were a happy combination of rag +rugs and wonderful big beds, some of them so high that steps were +necessary. +</P> + +<P> +Peter had a den adjoining his room, and it was filled with his pet +books and pictures. He exhibited it with pride, and Janet saw him slip +his arm around Mrs. Todd and give her a hug when he thought no one was +looking. +</P> + +<P> +At last only the Enchanted Kingdom remained, and when Janet entered it +she found herself alone. Perhaps it was just as well—the sight of the +old rows of books, the table and the window-seat where she had spent so +many happy hours sent tears to her eyes, and she had to blink hard to +keep them from falling. +</P> + +<P> +She sat on the floor, scorning the comfy chairs, and pulled out book +after book; each one was in its same place, and she patted them all as +though they were alive. +</P> + +<P> +After a long time Peter came in to find her. Mrs. Todd had sent him to +tell her that luncheon was ready, but when he found her sitting on the +floor, he forgot his message and dropped down beside her. +</P> + +<P> +They were both very late for luncheon. +</P> + +<P> +So many things filled the days that followed that a whole volume would +be required to chronicle them. Janet and Phyllis liked the day before +Christmas best of all. +</P> + +<P> +Things began early in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up, lazy bones!" Janet shook Phyllis, deaf to her protests. "You +can't lie in bed this morning," she admonished. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis sat up and opened two sleepy eyes and yawned, then, memory +asserting itself, she jumped out of bed with one spring. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I can't," she cried. "We have to go and get the Christmas +tree. I was forgetting." +</P> + +<P> +"Look out of the window," Janet directed. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked. The ground was covered with snow, and the world, as +far as she could see anyway, was decked in its Yuletide white. +</P> + +<P> +They hurried with their dressing and, much to Martha's concern, with +their breakfasts as well. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they come!" Phyllis cried, "and, oh, Jan, they are in a sleigh. +I can hear the bells." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I hoped the snow would be deep enough!" Janet exclaimed; "and it +must be. Three cheers for old Jack Frost!" +</P> + +<P> +They answered Peter's whistle by appearing at the door, and he and Jack +Belding jumped down from the sleigh to greet them. Jack Belding was a +school friend of Peter's. He had come to Old Chester several days +before. He was a tall, lanky youth with nondescript hair and eyes, but +a sense of humor that would have assured him a welcome in any company. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis and Janet had liked him at once, much to Peter's relief and his +own secret satisfaction. He always addressed them as, "You, Janet, or +you, Phyllis," and then shut his eyes until the right one came, for he +could not tell the one from the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Was there ever such a day?" Phyllis demanded as she jumped on to the +big sleigh with Peter's help. +</P> + +<P> +"Never in all this world," he replied seriously. +</P> + +<P> +They started off at a smart gait, stopping at the rectory for Alice and +Mildred Blake and at the Waters' for Harry. Then away they went along +an old back road that wound up into the hills. +</P> + +<P> +When they stopped they were all glad to get out and stretch. The girls +walked up and down to get warm, and the boys made short work of +chopping down a tall bushy Christmas tree. +</P> + +<P> +The ride back was exciting, for they had to hold the slippery tree on +the sleigh and stay on themselves. As Janet was driving at top speed +this was not easy, but they reached the little church at last and +carried the tree triumphantly into the Sunday-school room. +</P> + +<P> +Then they flocked into the rectory for luncheon. Janet and Peter +dropped behind. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it make you think of?" Peter asked, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't," Janet pleaded; "it's still too awful to remember. If I +thought to-night was going to be anything like <I>that</I> night I would go +straight home and go to bed." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you worry. It won't, Princess," Peter replied protectingly. +</P> + +<P> +After luncheon the fun began. They all set to and trimmed the tree, +Phyllis, by common consent, was master of ceremonies, and they all +hurried to do her bidding. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack, if you eat <I>all</I> the popcorn strings I don't see what we shall +have left for the tree," she complained once. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry," Jack apologized, "but that's one failing I have; in fact, I +might add that it is the only one, without fear of boasting. Put me +near a string of popcorn and I just naturally find myself eating it, +and the funny thing is I don't like it unless it is strung." He spoke +with such gravity that the rest shouted with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said Phyllis, "we will put you beyond temptation's way. +Go out and bring me back a whole lot of boughs. I want them for the +chancel." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, but if I am frozen I hope you have the grace to be ashamed +of your heartlessness." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I promise I'll be terribly ashamed," Phyllis called after him, as +he walked dejectedly from the room. +</P> + +<P> +When the tree was finished, and the church had been decked with boughs +and holly, they all went home for a well-merited rest. The crown-event +of the day was still before them. +</P> + +<P> +A party at the Enchanted Kingdom to which all the countryside had been +bidden. +</P> + +<P> +And it was a party indeed! +</P> + +<P> +Nothing could have been so totally different from Muriel's masquerade, +yet it rivaled it in fun. Phyllis and Janet wore dresses exactly +alike, and had the joy of playing their old tricks on a new company. +</P> + +<P> +They danced and played games until twelve o'clock, and then Peter and +Jack took them home in the sleigh. +</P> + +<P> +On Christmas Day they went again to Mrs. Todd's and found all their +gifts piled up under their little tree. Auntie Mogs had sent over even +the New York presents and the ones from Tom. +</P> + +<P> +One little box for Phyllis was the greatest surprise of all. It +contained a very beautiful bracelet set with a single large sapphire, +and tied to it was a card which read— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Merry Christmas to my girl, from Don"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The darling," Phyllis said happily as she clasped it over her arm; +"what a wonderful gift!" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed it is, my dear," Auntie Mogs agreed, "but"—she added with a +smile, "I think you deserve it." +</P> + +<P> +Jack looked at it gleefully. "Ha, ha!" he exclaimed, "now I can tell +them apart!" +</P> + +<P> +He spoke with pride, but his fall was not far off, for before many +minutes had passed Phyllis had slipped the bracelet to Janet, and his +confusion was worse than ever. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PHYLLIS'S "MATH" PAPER +</H3> + +<P> +Examination week had come. Every face in the big study hall gave ample +proof to the fact. Bowed heads and narrowed eyes pored over open +text-books, and a strained and unnatural silence hung over the room. +</P> + +<P> +Even in the ten-minute recess only whispers could be heard, and most of +the heads kept on over their books. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally's Aunt Jane's poll parrot," Phyllis whispered. "I haven't a +chance in a thousand of passing math. I wouldn't mind so much if I +didn't know that Ducky Lucky will be delighted. How do you feel, Jan?" +</P> + +<P> +"Scared to death," Janet admitted. "My hands are frozen, and my tongue +is sticking to the roof of my mouth." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I wish you'd keep still," Muriel fretted. "I'm trying to study." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the use?" Rosamond asked. "You can't learn things at the last +minute, so why try?" +</P> + +<P> +Muriel put her fingers in her ears and bowed again over her book. +</P> + +<P> +The bell rang, and every girl gave a deep sigh. It was partly relief +and partly dread. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Baxter entered the room, her arms full of papers. +</P> + +<P> +"She's having the time of her life," Phyllis said crossly. "I bet she +flunks every one of us." +</P> + +<P> +The papers were distributed to the various classes, and Miss Baxter +took her place on the platform. A heavy silence descended upon the +room, only broken by the scratching of many pen points. Miss Baxter +insisted in having her papers written in ink and written neatly; the +combination was not always easy to achieve. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis, who had moved her seat half way across the room, surveyed the +questions before her in dismay. There did not appear to be one out of +the ten that she could do. She buried her head in her hands and waited +for an inspiration. None came, and she looked over at Janet. +</P> + +<P> +"She looks as though she positively liked it," she said to herself. +"Well, I suppose I might as well do something." +</P> + +<P> +She settled to work and scratched away for two long hours. She knew +she was making mistakes, but she went ahead, determined to have a +filled and neatly written paper if nothing else. +</P> + +<P> +She had finished long before Janet, but she waited until she saw her +folding her paper before she signed her name to her own. They followed +each other to the desk, Miss Baxter not at all sure which was which. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" Phyllis demanded as they met in the hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what?" Janet inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you flunk?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe so; it was easy." +</P> + +<P> +"Easy!" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so, anyway. I answered them all, and they seemed to work +out right." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing, only I flunked." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I just wrote numbers." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, cheer up. Maybe they were the right numbers." Janet was +determined to be cheerful. She had found the examination much easier +than she had expected and she felt reasonably sure that she had passed. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't much care; we've the rest of the day to ourselves anyway; +let's go home." Phyllis made the suggestion light heartedly enough, +for lessons never worried her for very long and mathematics least of +all. +</P> + +<P> +They walked home through the park and met Don. He was chasing brownies +as usual, and poor Nannie was finding it difficult to keep up with him. +She never let him out of her sight for even an instant, and every man +that passed was a possible kidnapper in her old eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Don greeted the girls with joy. +</P> + +<P> +"I were chasing a brownie!" he exclaimed, "but he got away from me." +</P> + +<P> +He took Phyllis by the hand and led her towards the lake. Janet sat +down on the bench beside his nurse. +</P> + +<P> +"Why does Don always say were, instead of was?" she inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"'Deed, miss, that's his father's fault," Nannie replied. "One day +Master Don said 'they was going' and his father picked him up on his +lap and he said to him, said he, 'Don, never say was, say were.' The +poor lamb was so startled that he never forgot, and I can't make him +change for the life of me." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't try," Janet laughed; "it's awfully cunning to hear him say were! +I hope he never changes." +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis came back, a brown leaf in her hand, and Don tugging at her +skirts. +</P> + +<P> +"Here we are, Nannie, all safe and sound, and we caught the brownie." +She gave the leaf to Don, and she and Janet went on their way. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's stop and see Akbar," Phyllis suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you'd say that," Janet laughed. "What makes you so fond of +that animal." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know; he always makes me want to do something with my +hands." +</P> + +<P> +"Paint?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't think so." +</P> + +<P> +"Mold, perhaps?" Janet asked the question idly, but Phyllis spun around +and stopped as she heard it. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it!" she cried excitedly. "I want to mold him. I never +realized it until this minute. Come on, let's hurry home. There's +some putty in the cellar and I'm going to try." +</P> + +<P> +Janet, used to her twin's sudden whims, followed in amused silence. +</P> + +<P> +When they reached home they found a letter from Sally awaiting them. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, read it quick!" Phyllis exclaimed. "No, wait a minute. Let's go +up to the snuggery and get comfy." She went off to find some putty and +joined Janet a few minutes later. +</P> + +<P> +"Now read," she said, as she cuddled down into the corner of the couch. +</P> + +<P> +Janet opened the letter and began, +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Dearest of Twins (she read): +</P> + +<P> +"I am in the infirmary, pretending to have a cold but don't waste time +worrying about me for it's all a fake to get a chance to breathe, which +is something that I find you are not supposed to do at Hilltop (isn't +that a precious name for a school? I like it better every time I think +of it), except when you sleep. +</P> + +<P> +"I know you both think me a heartless wretch for not having written +oftener, but honestly I haven't time. It is go, go, go, from morning +till night. I used to think we kept pretty busy but we were tortoises +compared to the rate here. Up every morning at seven, lessons begin at +nine, lunch is at twelve-thirty; more lessons until two, and then the +rest of the day is yours. No study hours unless you are reported by +some teacher for not being prepared, then the wrath of the gods +descends upon your head and you are packed off to Assembly Hall and +made to work for two hours a day for a whole week. You may better +believe that we study to keep our blessed privilege. +</P> + +<P> +"The girls have a joke on me, and they tease all the time. I said Aunt +Jane's poll parrot just once. That was enough! They pretend now that +there is such a bird and that I keep him hidden in my room. They ask +after his health morning, noon and night, and ask me quite seriously to +consult him. Even the teachers do it. I nearly died in history class +when Miss Jenks, a love and nothing but a girl, just out of college, +asked me the date of the Battle of Hastings, I couldn't remember and +she looked at me so impishly and said, 'Better ask Aunt Jane's poll +parrot.' Imagine Ducky Lucky doing such a thing. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't told you one thing that I wanted to and this letter is all +one grand jumble, but I'll try to do better next time. +</P> + +<P> +"You simply must come next year; must, must, must. I've written Mother +to persuade your aunt, and she has promised to try. +</P> + +<P> +"Write soon and forgive blots. One of the girls is reading over my +shoulder and she says to blame the blots on Aunt Jane's poll parrot, +and to be sure and come next year. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Oceans of love,<BR><BR> + "SALLY."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Janet folded up the letter and laughed softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis stop trying to produce Akbar's image in putty long enough to +reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I should say it does. No study hours! What bliss! Auntie Mogs +simply has to let us go!" she exclaimed. "And what is better still, no +Ducky Lucky! I wish I knew if our papers were corrected or not." +</P> + +<P> +She would have been more than surprised had she known what was going on +at that very moment. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Baxter was busy correcting papers. She finished Janet's and +marked it with a big red B; then the fates stepped in. Miss Baxter was +called to the telephone. When she returned to her desk the paper next +for correction happened to be Phyllis's. Miss Baxter saw the name and +frowned; she always frowned when she thought of the twins. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny," she said to herself. "I thought I corrected this paper. So I +did and I decided to give it a B. The telephone confused me." +</P> + +<P> +With her usual precision she marked a B on the right-hand corner of the +paper and pushed it from her. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis gazed at it the next morning in joyful surprise. Had she been +any one but Phyllis she would have at least glanced at her mistakes, +but being Phyllis, she accepted her good luck with joy and threw the +paper into the waste-paper basket. Not seeing Miss Baxter's mistake, +she could not draw her attention to it. +</P> + +<P> +So the Page twins tricked Miss Baxter once again, and the joke was no +less amusing because of their ignorance. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FAREWELL PARTY +</H3> + +<P> +Spring made an early appearance in New York and decked itself more +charmingly than ever. The trees showed tiny green buds, and the grass +freshened under the warm showers, almost as you looked. +</P> + +<P> +Jonquils and crocuses appeared to welcome the fat robins that returned +to their nests, and all Nature hummed and fluttered in its eager +preparations. +</P> + +<P> +Janet and Phyllis were busy planning a farewell party, as they sat in +the sunshine in the park one Sunday morning. +</P> + +<P> +"If we could only think of something different to do," Phyllis wailed. +"I am so tired of dances and skating parties and afternoon teas. We've +been going to them all winter." +</P> + +<P> +"I know," Janet agreed, "but what else is there to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, I suppose," Phyllis replied. "So which shall it be?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know,"—Janet refused to decide. "Let's ask Auntie Mogs." +</P> + +<P> +"No, let's make up our own minds," Phyllis insisted. "If we were only +at Old Chester we could have a picnic." +</P> + +<P> +"But there'd be no one to go to it but Harry Waters and the Blakes," +Janet reminded her. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, I forgot Peter and Jack are at school; but anyhow a +picnic would be fun." +</P> + +<P> +"Where could you have one around here?" Janet demanded, practical as +ever. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis looked at her disapprovingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Jan, you're a wet blanket!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not. I'm only trying to be sensible." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, stop; it's too gorgeous a day to be anything but happy, so don't +let's bother about that stupid party any more." +</P> + +<P> +"What party was ever stupid, may I ask?" a voice inquired from above +them, and they looked up to see Mr. Keith. +</P> + +<P> +They made room for him on the bench, and he sat down between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me about the stupid party," he invited. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't one really," Janet explained; "it's just going to be." +</P> + +<P> +"We're going to give it," Phyllis continued, "and it's going to be +stupid because we can't think of anything to do that hasn't been done a +million times before." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Keith's eyes twinkled, but he answered very gravely: +</P> + +<P> +"I see." +</P> + +<P> +"A picnic would be wonderful this weather, but there's no place to have +a picnic in the city," Phyllis went on dejectedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite so," Mr. Keith agreed; "let's all think for two minutes and then +see who has an idea." +</P> + +<P> +They thought, and at the end of the two minutes he said, +</P> + +<P> +"Any ideas?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a one." +</P> + +<P> +"Worse than ever." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Keith smiled and stood up. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I have a suggestion to make," he said. "When is this party to +be?" +</P> + +<P> +"A week from yesterday," Phyllis told him. +</P> + +<P> +"Then don't make any plans until you hear from me. I will think hard +all day, and to-morrow sometime I will call you up, and now I must go +and find Don. I promised to watch him sail his boat." He lifted his +silk hat and walked away, humming a little tune. +</P> + +<P> +"I like him, ever so much," Janet said as she watched him. +</P> + +<P> +"I adore him!" Phyllis exclaimed. "He's a perfect darling, but then +he's Don's father, so he'd have to be." +</P> + +<P> +The promised 'phone message did not come until Monday evening after +dinner. The girls made up their minds that he had forgotten all about +them, and had started new plans. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis answered the 'phone. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I speaking to the Page twins!" a voice asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Part of them," Phyllis laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I have a message for them both. They are to be ready to go on a +picnic Saturday morning at ten o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but—" gasped Phyllis. +</P> + +<P> +"And in the meantime they are not to worry about their guests. They +have all been invited and they have all accepted," the voice went on, +"and they are not to worry about food either, for the luncheon has all +been attended to." The voice stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that you, Mr. Keith?" Phyllis demanded, but a laughing "good night" +was her only answer. +</P> + +<P> +She flew back to the snuggery to tell Janet the news, and they both +went down to the library to tell Auntie Mogs. She did not look as +surprised as she might have been expected to, but they were too excited +to notice that. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you suppose he means?" Phyllis demanded. "Where can we be +going?" +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie Mogs, do say something," Janet begged. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait and see,"—Miss Carter laughed, and they had to be content with +that. +</P> + +<P> +Saturday dawned clear and warm; the sun beamed and spread his rays to +the farthest corner of the sky. It looked as though some one had +ordered a day for a picnic, and Dame Nature had done her best to +satisfy them. +</P> + +<P> +At ten o'clock the girls heard loud tootings, and Janet, who was +putting on her hat, hurried to the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Phyl, do look; three automobiles full of every girl and boy you +ever knew." +</P> + +<P> +They rushed downstairs, and Mr. Keith met them at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"All ready?" he inquired. "Come along, Miss Carter; we will lead the +way." +</P> + +<P> +The girls were too excited to answer. They followed their aunt to the +waiting cars, where a babble of greetings met them. Mr. Keith helped +Miss Carter into the first one, and the girls into the second. +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead," he called to the chauffeurs, and jumped in after them. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis could see that Mrs. Vincent was in the last car. She smiled +and waved to her. +</P> + +<P> +Daphne and Chuck and Jerry and Howard were in their car, and they +squeezed up to make room for Janet and Phyllis. Mr. Keith sat in the +front beside the driver. +</P> + +<P> +A buzz of questions and speculations rose from every car, but no one +seemed to have the least idea where they were going. +</P> + +<P> +They picked their way carefully through the city streets, but once in +the country they flew along. Towns whizzed by, and at last they slowed +up for Poughkeepsie, crossed the river on the ferry, and snorted up the +hill on the other side. +</P> + +<P> +As they reached the top of a hill and began the descent everybody said +"Oooooh," for beneath them and on every side was a veritable fairyland +of apple blossoms. +</P> + +<P> +They stopped at an old farmhouse, and all jumped out to find the picnic +spread out for them under the apple trees. Chicken, salads, tarts and +every kind of fruit covered the white cloth, and the air had whipped +their appetites into being. They needed no second invitation but threw +themselves on to the ground and did justice to the tempting repast. +</P> + +<P> +After luncheon they wandered about under the trees until it was time to +go home. +</P> + +<P> +As each guest passed Mrs. Vincent before they got into the motors, she +gave them each a box. They opened them in surprise, that turned +quickly to exclamations of delight as they gazed at the contents. +</P> + +<P> +Tiny gold butterflies and enameled wings for the girls and stick pins +with bumble bees in black and gold for the boys. On the back of each +pin was the date and Janet's and Phyllis's initials. +</P> + +<P> +The girls were so excited watching their guests' delight that they +forgot to open their own boxes until Daphne reminded them of them. +</P> + +<P> +"I know yours will be different," she said. +</P> + +<P> +They opened them to find butterflies, like the rest, but twice as +large. On the back was inscribed, "In memory of the stupid party." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Keith, how are we ever going to thank you!" Janet exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"It has been the most beautiful stupid party that ever was," Phyllis +added. "Oh, please, please, believe that we are truly grateful." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," laughed Mr. Keith. "You forget I am still heavily in your +debt, and to-day has only added to that indebtedness, for I can +honestly say I never enjoyed a picnic as much as this in all my life." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CONCLUSION +</H3> + +<P> +Auntie Mogs looked up from her mail at the breakfast table and smiled +at Phyllis and Janet as they took their places, one on either side of +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is something that may interest you," and she held out two letters. +</P> + +<P> +Phyllis took one and Janet the other. +</P> + +<P> +"It's from Tommy; do listen,"—Phyllis almost knocked over the cream +pitcher in her excitement. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Dear family"—(she read) +</P> + +<P> +"I am expecting you on the fourteenth of this month and may the date +hurry up and get here. I will meet you at the station, prepared for +your luggage and live stock. Don't get lost on the way, please, as +this West is rather large and I might have difficulty in finding you. +</P> + +<P> +"The conductor will see that you change at the junction and don't +forget that you get out at Quantos. +</P> + +<P> +"My ranch is so clean that it doesn't know itself, and some of my +cowboys are laying in a stock of new collars in honor of your arrival. +But none of them can compare with the pleasure that I get out of every +minute of the day when I think that you will soon be with me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Your affectionate nephew and brother,<BR><BR> + "TOM."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Janet held up her envelope and shook it. Tickets, yards long it +seemed, fell out on to the table cloth. +</P> + +<P> +"We are really going," they said together, and they looked straight +into each other's eyes across the table. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps they saw the joys of the coming summer, mirrored in their brown +depths. Who knows? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHYLLIS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 22912-h.txt or 22912-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/1/22912">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/9/1/22912</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Phyllis + A Twin + + +Author: Dorothy Whitehill + + + +Release Date: October 7, 2007 [eBook #22912] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHYLLIS*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 22912-h.htm or 22912-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/1/22912/22912-h/22912-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/1/22912/22912-h.zip) + + + + + +PHYLLIS + +A Twin + +by + +DOROTHY WHITEHILL + +Illustrated by Thelma Gooch + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to +Phyllis, "you are Don's girl."] + + + +Publishers +Barse & Hopkins +New York, N. Y. ---------- Newark, N. J. + +Copyright, 1920, +by +Barse & Hopkins + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I PHYLLIS + II DON + III FRIENDS + IV JANET ARRIVES + V SCHOOL + VI TOM'S LAST DAY + VII DAPHNE'S ADVICE + VIII A CHANGE IN JANET + IX TWINS INDEED + X THE SCREENED WINDOW + XI THE MASQUERADE + XII CHUCK GUESSES RIGHT + XIII A BLUE MONDAY + XIV MISS PRINGLE + XV A WHITE MITTEN + XVI DON! + XVII CHRISTMAS VACATION + XVIII THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM + XIX PHYLLIS'S "MATH" PAPER + XX THE FAREWELL PARTY + XXI CONCLUSION + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to + Phyllis. "You are Don's girl" . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis + in all her life and she couldn't understand it" + +"Vers two of you," he said gravely + +"Something white caught her eye" + + + + +PHYLLIS, A TWIN + + +CHAPTER I + +PHYLLIS + +A glorious autumn day spread its golden sunshine over the city. In the +parks the red leaves blazed under the deep blue sky, and the water in +the lakes sparkled over the reflections of the tall buildings mirrored +in their depths. People walked with a brisk step, as though they had +but suddenly awakened from a long drowsy sleep to the coolness of a +new, vigorous world. + +In a house just off Fifth Avenue, a short distance from Central Park, +all the windows were open to admit the dazzling sunshine. Soft white +curtains fluttered in the crisp breeze, and the rooms were flooded with +cool, yellow light. + +Phyllis Page stood in the center of one of the rooms and looked +critically about her. There was no need of criticism, for it was as +nearly perfect as a room could be. + +The walls were hung with dainty pink and white paper. A bed of ivory +white, with carved roses at the head and covered with a sheer +embroidered spread, filled one corner; a tall chest of drawers stood +opposite, and a dressing-table with a triple mirror was placed between +the two windows. + +A little to one side of the open grate was a tiny table just large +enough to hold a bowl of pink roses. In all the room not a pin was out +of place. + +As Phyllis surveyed it all for perhaps the twentieth time that day, a +look of disappointment cast a momentary shadow over her usually merry +face. + +"There isn't one single thing more to do," she complained. "Oh, dear, +I do hope she likes it." + +The suggestion of doubt made her hurry to her aunt's room on the floor +below. She found Miss Carter sitting before an open fire reading. + +"Auntie Mogs," she said, standing in the doorway, "suppose Janet +doesn't like it? The room, I mean." + +There was real concern in her voice, but in spite of it Miss Carter +laughed. + +"Why, Phyllis, you little goose, of course she'll like it. It's a dear +room, and it will just suit her exactly. What put such a ridiculous +notion into your head?" + +"But, Auntie Mogs, it's so awfully different from her own room," +Phyllis protested. "Perhaps she'll miss her big four-posted bed and +those ducky rag rugs. I would, I think,"--she hesitated. + +Miss Carter laughed again. + +"But that's exactly why Janet won't," she answered. "She has grown up +with all those lovely old things and she is used to them. She has +never seen anything like her new room and she will love it, I am sure. +Just as you loved the dear old room we had at her house, only of course +Janet won't go into such ecstasies as you did," she added with a smile. + +She pulled her niece down to the arm of her chair and stroked her soft +golden-brown hair. But Phyllis's leaf-brown eyes were still clouded +with doubt. + +"I want her to love it, Auntie Mogs," she said softly. "I want her to +love it, and I want her to be happy. But, oh, dear, suppose she isn't? +Suppose she is homesick for Old Chester. Perhaps she'll just hate the +city. If she does--oh, Auntie Mogs, if she does, I think I shall die." + +This time Miss Carter did not smile. + +"Phyllis dear," she said kindly, "do you love Janet?" + +Phyllis stared in amazement. "Love her? Why, of course I do! I +simply adore her. Isn't she my twin, and haven't I wanted her all my +life?" + +Her aunt nodded. "Then I wouldn't worry," she said kindly. "Poor +little Janet has had very little real love in her life, and I think she +will be very happy to be with people who do love her. You must +remember, dear, that although it was wonderful for you to find Janet, +it was just as wonderful for her to find you. I think it was even more +wonderful perhaps, for she was very lonely and you never were. Don't +worry about her not liking her room or the city. Just love her and her +happiness will take care of itself." + +Phyllis jumped up and kissed her aunt. + +"Oh, Auntie Mogs, you always smooth things out," she exclaimed +joyfully. "They ought to make you President of the United States, they +really ought." + +"Mercy me, don't say it out loud,"--Miss Carter laughed. "Some one +might hear you and take your advice. Now, go out for a walk and come +back for tea with pink cheeks, you look tired out. And no matter how +much you worry and fume, Janet won't get here a minute sooner than +three o'clock on Wednesday." + +"And that's a whole day and a half off,"--Phyllis sighed as she left +the room to get ready for her walk. + +Miss Carter looked thoughtfully into the fire for many minutes after +she had gone. Her advice to love Janet was sound, but in her own heart +she knew that Phyllis's doubts were not without foundation. + +It had been just a little over a month ago that news had come from Tom, +Phyllis's older brother, that Mrs. Page had at last given in and was +willing to let Janet, whom she had cared for ever since she had been a +baby, see her twin sister Phyllis whom Miss Carter had brought up. +Many years before Mrs. Page had insisted that the twins be separated, +and because Phyllis bore her mother's name and Mrs. Page cruelly blamed +her daughter-in-law for the tragic accident that had resulted in both +parents' death, she had chosen to keep Janet with her. Thirteen years +had passed, and neither of the girls had dreamed of the other's +existence; perhaps they had dreamed, but they had never expected their +dream to come true, as it had only a short month ago when Phyllis, too +happy for words, had jumped off the train at Old Chester and into the +arms of her twin. + +It had been an exciting month as Miss Carter reviewed it, and with all +her heart she wanted the happiness that both girls looked forward to +for the coming winter to be assured. + +"If we can only keep Janet from feeling shy and different from the +other girls it will be all right," she said at last, and fell to gazing +into the fire again. + +Phyllis, already well on her walk in the park, was busy with the same +thoughts. They were more concrete in form, but they amounted to the +same thing. She knew that she could be happy with Janet and keep her +from being homesick, but the thought of the other girls at school made +her uneasy. They were nice girls, all of them, and they were all fond +of Phyllis, and for her sake she knew they would be nice to her twin, +but Phyllis was not satisfied to let the matter drop there. She wanted +the girls to accept Janet on her own merit. + +The roguish autumn wind was playing tricks with the dead brown leaves, +swirling them about regardless of passers-by. One especially gusty +little gale made Phyllis duck her head so low that she did not gee +where she was going. She bumped into something small unexpectedly, and +an angry voice startled her out of her revery. + +"Now, I've lost it for good. Why don't you look what you're about? +Nurse says it's rude to jostle." + +Phyllis looked down into two very angry blue eyes which, except for a +glimpse of ruddy cheeks almost hidden by a fur cap, were all that was +visible of the chubby face before her. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +DON + +She tried hard not to smile. She loved and understood children, and +one of the chief reasons that they always returned her love with +interest was that she always took them seriously. + +"Oh, I'm so very sorry," she apologized humbly; "perhaps I can help you +find it again. What was it you lost?" + +"It were a brownie, a brown leaf brownie wiv crinkly legs, and I were +following it and now--" + +"And now I've chased it away. Isn't that a shame." Phyllis was very +serious. "But, do you know, I think it was the brownie's own fault. I +felt something a minute ago, just punching and kicking at my face, and +I thought perhaps it was an ordinary leaf but of course it couldn't +have been." + +"It were my brownie,"--the blue eyes wrinkled up at the end of an +impish grin. "Did it kick hard?" + +"I should say it did. Look,"--Phyllis took her hand away from her eye. +It was quite red, for a bit of dust had inflamed it. + +The small boy gazed at it thoughtfully. + +"He hadn't ought to have hurted you," he said solemnly. "He were a bad +brownie, I guess--so I'll go back to Nannie now." + +"Where is Nannie?" Phyllis inquired, looking in vain for a nurse. The +park, as far as she could see, was deserted. + +"It doesn't matter," he said quite calmly. "I just remembered I'm +losted." He took Phyllis's outstretched hand and trotted along beside +her. + +"Losted?" she inquired in astonishment. + +"Yes, for quite a while, you see, Nannie talks and talks, and to-day +she were talking when the brownie came, and so I ran away. Nannie +doesn't know about brownies; just angels and devils." + +Phyllis, in spite of herself, laughed. "But if Nannie has lost you, +won't she be worried?" she asked. + +The small head nodded. "But she'll find me again," he assured her. +"She always does." + +"What's your name?" he demanded after a minute of silence. + +"Phyllis Page." + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I have ever so many more names than that." + +"What are they?" + +"Donald Francis MacFarlan Keith," he recited glibly; "but mostly I'm +called Don." + +"That's a very nice name," Phyllis agreed absently. She was still +looking for the lost Nannie. + +"And I live," Don continued proudly, "at number theventeen East +Theventy-theventh Street." The s's were almost too much for him but he +struggled manfully. + +"Why, that's very near where I live!" Phyllis exclaimed, relief in her +voice. "I'll take you home, if we don't find Nannie." + +Don decided that that might be a good idea when, after a short hunt, +the missing Nannie was not discovered. + +He talked every step of the way home, about brownies, policemen, dogs +and fire engines, and Phyllis joined in the discussion whole heartedly +and agreed with him that a mounted policeman was indeed superior to a +banker on Wall Street. + +"For," Don explained, "that's what Nannie says my Daddy is, but I think +policemen is nicer." + +When they reached the house that Don pointed out as his, they hurried +up the steps, but before Phyllis could press the button the door opened +and a boy about her own age stood on the threshold. + +"I beg your pardon--" Phyllis began, but Don interrupted. + +"Hello, Chuck," he said seriously. "This girl bringed me home because +I got losted. She's only got two names but she's very nice; she knows +all about brownies--" + +"Don!"--the elder boy spoke so sharply that Phyllis was startled. + +"Thank you very much," he continued, looking at her. "My small cousin +is always getting lost, I hope he hasn't bothered you." + +"Not a bit," Phyllis laughed. "We've had a fine time. I'm sorry if +you have been worried." + +"Oh, I haven't," the boy replied, "but I think his nurse has the whole +police force out looking for him. I knew he'd show up." + +"Good-by, Don." Phyllis held out her hand, and Don put his little one +in it. + +"Don't get lost again, will you!" + +"It depends," Don replied gravely. "I can't promise. Anyway I'll look +for you every time I go to the park, and I'll ask the brownies about +you, 'cause I like you, oh, heaps better than Chuck. He doesn't know +anything about brownies." + +Phyllis looked at the boy still standing in the doorway. He was +blushing. + +"How silly of him," she said to Don. "We do anyway, don't we?" + +"'Course," Don replied, and he insisted in spite of his cousin's +threats to watch and wave until Phyllis was out of sight. + +Phyllis, hidden by the corner, paused to laugh. + +"That wasn't a very polite thing to say," she admitted. "I wonder what +made me think of it. He looked quite nice too. I wonder who he is?" + +Don for the moment was forgotten. + +As Phyllis hurried home, many were the thoughts that kept her company, +for the brisk wind had blown all her doubts away and only the joy of +Janet's arrival remained. + +People passing her saw a slender girl of thirteen with a delicate oval +face and well-shaped features framed in a wealth of gold brown hair. +Her eyes were soft and limpid, and they held an expression of +dreaminess in their depths. + +This afternoon, however, they sparkled and seemed to challenge the +whole world to find a happier mortal. + +She walked along, her step light as a fairy's, her skirts still blowing +at the whim of the breezes. + +"I think I will stop and see some of the girls," she said to herself, +but she changed her mind the next minute and went home instead. It was +like Phyllis to make up her mind one minute and change it the next. + +She found the house deserted on her return, and she had to go down to +the basement to get in. + +"Where's everybody?" she demanded of Lucy, the fat good-natured cook. + +"Out, my dear," Lucy told her. "Your aunt is out calling, and Annie +has gone to the grocery for me." + +"What did you forget to-night?" Phyllis teased, as she swung herself up +on the kitchen table. + +"Now, Miss Phyllis, I couldn't help it this time, for how did I know +that the can of mustard, standing there on the shelf as big as you +please, was empty?" + +It was chronic with Lucy to forget things, and it was usually Phyllis +that went after them. + +"Never mind, Lucy; it's hard luck. I don't see myself why those +everlasting cans don't tell you when they are empty; it would save my +steps, I know that." + +"Cans speak! Go way with you," Lucy replied in a gust of laughter. + +Phyllis swung down off the table. + +"After two more days there'll be another me to go out and buy what you +forget to order," she said as she ran up the back stairs. + +Lucy watched her and then shook her head at the row of shining pans on +the wall opposite. + +"That, my dear, will never be," she said solemnly. "Look like you she +may and lucky she is to be so blest, but be like you, I beg to differ. +The dear Lord only made the one. Glory be," she added piously. + +Phyllis, upstairs, was trying to think of something, no matter how +small, to do to improve Janet's room. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FRIENDS + +"Well, dear?" Auntie Mogs looked up from her paper the next morning at +breakfast to greet her niece. Phyllis kissed her and sat down quietly +at her place. + +"Only one more morning to wait," she said happily, "and then--" + +"And then the Page twins will have breakfast together for the rest of +their lives, I hope," Auntie Mogs finished for her. "Or until one or +the other of you get married." + +"Married! Oh, what a perfectly silly idea!" Phyllis laughed. "I'm +never going to get married, and I don't believe Janet wants to either." + +Miss Carter did not contradict, but she picked up her newspaper to hide +the amused smile that played on her firm red lips. + +Phyllis looked around the dining-room and hummed contentedly. It was a +charming room, and the fire blazing in the grate added to the warmth +and coziness. + +"No,"--Phyllis returned to the subject under discussion--"I'll never +marry, but that doesn't mean I don't like boys. I do. I adore them. +They are such fun and much more sensible than most girls, but I +wouldn't admit that to any one but you, Auntie Mogs, because, nice as +they are, they are fearfully conceited and that would keep me from ever +being silly about them." + +"I hope that's not the only reason," Auntie Mogs laughed. "Boys +are--but there goes the telephone. Will you answer it, please, dear? +Annie is busy." + +Phyllis jumped up from the table and hurried to the hall. + +"Suppose it's Tommy saying they're coming to-day!" she exclaimed. But +a minute later her aunt heard her voice drop to its natural tone as she +said: + +"Oh, hello, Muriel; this is Phyllis-- + +"Why, how nice of you; of course I'll be in. + +"Yes, isn't it too exciting for words! + +"Oh, I think we'll both be there on Monday. + +"Oh, wonderful; then I'll see you this afternoon, 'by 'till then." + +"It was Muriel," she explained as she returned to the dining-room. +"She and some of the girls from school are coming over this afternoon. +They want to talk over some class plans and they want my advice. We +have class officers this year, you know. Muriel says I've missed an +awful lot. It's almost a month now since school started but it can't +be helped. + +"Oh, dear, I wonder what class Janet will be in. I hope it won't be +too awfully low." She paused, and her pretty brows puckered into a +tiny frown. + +"I don't think I'd worry if I were you," her aunt said softly. "Janet +may never have been to a school but she is very bright, and I don't +think it will be very long before she will be even with you." + +"Oh, but, Auntie Mogs," Phyllis exclaimed, "you didn't think I meant +she was stupid. Of course she's bright, only she probably hasn't had +the same kind of lessons that I have. Anyway, we will soon know, and +even if she goes into the very baby class it won't make any difference +to me. Only you see it might to some of the others," she added +reluctantly. + +"That won't bother Janet." Miss Carter smiled at the memory of her +independent little niece who, for all her quiet ways, was thoroughly +able to take care of herself. + +"The only thing that worries me," she added, smiling, "is whether or +not Janet will like the girls." + +Phyllis looked at her in astonishment. + +"But of course she will," she exclaimed. "They are all, or nearly all, +awfully nice and--why, Auntie Mogs, she's sure to like them." + +Miss Carter smiled as she left the table. She had given Phyllis a new +idea and she did not mean to dwell upon it. + +"Hurry and finish your breakfast, dear," she directed. "I want you to +go down town and finish your shopping with me. When Janet comes I +don't want to think of anything but her clothes. There will be lots to +do if she is to start school on Monday." + +"Of course," Phyllis agreed, drinking her very hot cocoa so fast that +it burned her throat. "Won't it be fun, taking Janet to all the shops +and having luncheon down town. I know she'll adore it." + +The morning passed quickly, as mornings always do when they are spent +in shopping, and Phyllis was barely home in time to receive her friends +at three o'clock. + +Muriel Grey arrived first. She was a short plump girl of fourteen, +with lots of fluffy yellow hair and big china-blue eyes. + +"Oh, Phyllis, I'm so glad to see you. We miss you terribly at school. +It isn't a bit nice without you!" she exclaimed as she kissed Phyllis. + +"Well, I'll be back Monday," Phyllis replied. "I've missed you too. +Sit down and tell me all the news--oh, wait a minute. Here comes +Eleanor, and Rosamond is with her." + +The two girls who were just coming up the steps were both dressed in +dark blue and their long braids hung down their backs and were both +tied with bright green ribbons to match their green tams. They were +not sisters, but they had been friends for so long that it was a joke +at school to say that they were beginning to look like each other. + +Phyllis was very fond of them both for they were great fun, and their +endless ideas were always a source of wonder to their class. + +"Hello, Phyllis, here we are," Rosamond greeted. "Couldn't get here a +minute sooner." + +"Old Ducky Lucky requested us to remain after class as usual," Eleanor +explained. + +It all sounded so natural to Phyllis's ear that she giggled +delightedly. It was fun seeing the girls again, and she realized for +the first time that she had missed them unconsciously during the past +month. + +"Funny old Ducky Lucky," she laughed. "Is she just as fussy as ever?" + +"Well, if you want to call it fussy, she is," Rosamond groaned. "I can +think of a better word, only I won't." + +Ducky Lucky was the disrespectful nickname for Miss Baxter, the +mathematics teacher at Miss Harding's school. + +"Sally's coming later," Eleanor said, as they all entered the living +room. "She said to tell you not to dare say anything about your twin +until she got here. She doesn't want to miss a word. Of course we're +all fearfully excited, but to hear Sally talk you would think that she +was the one that had made the discovery." + +"That's just like Sally,"--Phyllis laughed. "I'm crazy to see her. +I've only talked to her over the phone since I got back, and you all +know it's no fun talking to Sally unless you can watch her eyes." + +"Good old Sally,"--Eleanor smiled at the memory of a host of funny +sayings and doings, and then she looked suddenly grave. "Do you know +she is talking about going to boarding school second term?" she +inquired. + +"Sally! Why, we could never in the world get along without her," +Phyllis and Rosamond protested. + +"Oh, I don't know,"--Muriel spoke for the first time. "I think we +could. Sally's nice and all that, but she is such a tomboy." + +The girls turned in surprise to look at her. + +"Of course she is; she wouldn't be Sally if she were any different," +Phyllis said, and the two girls nodded in solemn agreement, and then +Sally herself arrived. + +She came into the room like a whirl of merry autumn leaves. Her hair, +never very orderly at best, was towsled by the wind, and her cheeks +glowed. She had deep blue eyes that flashed and sparkled behind long +black lashes, her hair was black as a raven's wing, and she had a +single bewitching dimple in her left cheek. When she spoke people +generally thought of rippling brooks and deep ringing chimes. + +"Sally Ladd, you love," Phyllis greeted her enthusiastically. "I +thought I was never going to see you. You wretch, why haven't you been +over before?" + +"Never mind about me," Sally protested, kissing her warmly. "I want to +hear all about Janet. Gracious sakes, it's thrilling enough to get a +new baby sister but to find a grown-up twin! Well, I do think some +people have all the luck. Tell us all about her. Is she pretty?" + +Phyllis laughed. She was a little embarrassed. + +"She's my twin, you know," she confessed, "and so--" + +"And so you haven't gumption enough to say that she's a beauty." Sally +settled the question with her usual straightforwardness. + +"Is she like you, Phyl?" Eleanor demanded. + +"Not a bit," Phyllis denied. "She's a thousand times nicer. She is so +quiet when there are people around that it looks as though she were +bashful, but she really isn't a bit. She just never says anything +unless it's worth saying, and I wish you could see her look at me when +I babble on." + +The girls laughed, and Muriel asked: + +"What school has she been to? One up there in the country, I suppose." + +Phyllis bit her lip. What was the matter with Muriel? She was being +disagreeable and not at all like the good-natured rolypoly chum of past +years. + +"Janet has never been to school," she said quietly, "she has always had +a tutor." + +"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot! That means she will know twice as much +as any of us," Sally cried. + +Aunt Jane's poll parrot was a mythical bird of wisdom that Sally always +appealed to in moments of excitement. Phyllis laughed at hearing the +familiar exclamation again. + +"Oh, Sally, that does sound natural, I really feel that I am back at +school and that Old Chester and Janet are all a dream!" she exclaimed. + +"Well, thank goodness they're not. Look here, Phyl. Do you know, I +think I'm a lot more excited about your twin than you are. In the +first place she is just the sort of girl we need at school," Sally +spoke seriously. "We have been the same lot of girls for, well three +years now, with only an occasional new one to jog us up, and I think +Janet will be a blessing. She'll be different, and that's what we +need." + +"I hope she is in our class," Eleanor added. + +"Well, of course I do too," Muriel said slowly, "but I don't see +anything the matter with us as we are, except that I do feel that it is +time we were acting a little older and not so like tomboys." She +looked meaningly at Sally. "We have officers this year, and, as Miss +Harding says, we will have added responsibilities, and I think we ought +to try and be more dignified." + +Sally looked quickly from Phyllis to Eleanor and Rosamond. All three +looked surprised and a little angry. Sally laughed contentedly. + +"Hear that poll? we are to be more dignified! Bless us. Muriel, but +you are a scream," she teased. + +"I don't see why it's funny to want to be more grown up and serious." +Muriel's feelings were hurt, and she looked angrily at Sally. + +"If we acted any differently we'd be affected," Eleanor announced with +conviction, "and I for one don't think that would be much of an +improvement." + +"Surely we can hold our place in school without putting our hair up on +top of our heads,"--Phyllis laughed good naturedly, "but I think I know +what Muriel means," she added loyally. + +"No, you don't, Phyl." Rosamond had kept quiet up until now but her +eyes had danced mischievously. "You none of you know, but I'll tell +you,"--she paused dramatically. + +"Muriel has a beau." she announced. The girls all laughed, but she +went on quite seriously. "He takes her home from school and he carries +her books, so of course she has to grow up. Why, even the seniors +watch her from the study window in silent jealousy." + +Phyllis looked at Muriel. There was no denying the change now. She +sighed. + +"If you are going to talk like children, I'm going home." Muriel rose +with what she hoped was becoming dignity, and in silence the girls +watched her put on her hat and coat. Phyllis followed her to the door. + +"Muriel, don't be silly," she pleaded. "We've been such chums, I can't +bear to see you so changed." But Muriel refused to be comforted. + +"It isn't my fault if you can't keep up with me," she said coldly, and +Phyllis was too angry to answer. + +She walked upstairs slowly. "I've lost Muriel," she said wistfully, +but a sudden thought made her run up the rest of the way, two steps at +a time. + +"Girls, do you realize that this time to-morrow Janet will actually be +here?" she exclaimed joyfully. + +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot, so she will!" said Sally. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JANET ARRIVES + +Phyllis opened her eyes on Wednesday morning, and frowned as she heard +the rain beating down on the tin roof below her window. + +"It has no business to rain to-day of all days," she said crossly; +"but, after all, it doesn't matter, for, rain or shine, Janet is +coming." + +She looked through the open door into the room adjoining hers and +smiled. From her bed she could see the dainty white dressing table and +the soft-colored print of Raphael's Madonna hanging in its gold frame +beside it. Her own room, as her eyes traveled back to it, was shabby +in comparison, but that only made her smile the more. + +"It's just too heavenly to be true," she whispered dreamily. "How +silly I've been to worry whether she will like it or not. Of course +she will, and oh, joy of joys, she will be here in less than, let me +see, eight hours." She jumped out of bed and in a few minutes she was +singing in her bath. + +"Phyllis, Phyllis, if you don't stop acting like a crazy person I don't +know what I shall do," Miss Carter sighed later in the morning as +Phyllis, growing more and more excited as the minutes passed, flew +upstairs and down, upsetting everything in her effort to keep busy. + +"I know, Aunt Mogs, but I can't help it. I shall probably die before +the train gets in," Phyllis confessed as she sat down at last and tried +to concentrate on a book. But the print danced before her eyes, and in +not more than a minute she was up again. + +"I knew I'd forgotten something!" she exclaimed. + +"What is it now?" her aunt inquired, smiling gently. + +"Flowers. The ones I bought day before yesterday are all wilted. Oh, +I know you told me they would be, but don't say, 'I told you so,' +please." + +"No, I won't. I'm almost glad they have wilted; they will give you +something to do. Hurry out and get some more, and be sure they are +buds this time." + +Phyllis hurried to the nearest florist and then took as long as she +possibly could to select the roses. When she reached home she was +disgusted to find that she had been gone only twenty minutes. But the +morning passed somehow, and although Phyllis insisted upon a +ridiculously early start in case the traffic should delay them, they +were only a quarter of an hour ahead of train time. + +The huge station was crowded with people, and Phyllis looked at them +doubtfully. + +"Auntie Mogs, if Janet ever got lost in this mob we would never find +her in all this world," she said nervously. + +"It might be a difficult task," Miss Carter agreed calmly, "but Tom is +with her, and it would be very hard to lose Tom even here." + +"Oh, I was forgetting all about Tom." Phyllis laughed with relief. +"It would be hard to hide his six feet, wouldn't it? Oh, dear, that +sounds as though he were a centipede, but you know what I mean." + +"I do sometimes, my darling,"--Miss Carter laughed into Phyllis's +eyes--"but sometimes, I must admit, you race too far ahead of me. Do +try and quiet down before Janet comes." + +"Oh, but she loves me just the way I am," Phyllis announced airily, +"and so does Tommy. Look now, it's only ten minutes." + +She kept her eyes fastened to the blackboard until the announcer called +the number of the track and wrote it down in his slow deliberate hand. +From that minute to the time when the first porter came up the stairs +and through the gate seemed an eternity, but at last Tom's head and +shoulders appeared above the crowd. + +"Here they are, Janet," he called, but even that was not necessary, for +the twins had found each other, in spite of bobbing hats and +sharp-pointed umbrellas, and were in each other's arms. Phyllis, as +usual, was doing all the talking, and Janet, a little confused, +accepted it as a fitting ending to the amazing dream that had begun +that morning when she watched the Old Chester station fade into the +distance. + +After a description of Phyllis, it is useless to give one of Janet, for +except for the difference in the expression of their eyes the girls +were the image of each other. Even the difference in their dress did +not disguise the startling resemblance, and people turned to stare and +then to smile as Phyllis's infectious laughter reached them. + +"Wait here and I'll find a taxi," Tom directed, as they reached the +open rotunda that led to the street. + +In a minute they were all comfortably seated in a cab and had joined +the procession of slow-moving vehicles that were trying to gain the +avenue. + +"To think you are really here," Phyllis sighed, as though the greatest +event of her life were over. + +"I'm not a bit sure that I am,"--Janet laughed. "I've been begging +Tommy to pinch me all the way down in the train. I thought surely I +would wake up any minute and hear Martha say, 'It's time to get up, +child.'" + +"I didn't do it though, because I thought the other people in the train +might not understand," Tom said with amusement. + +"Where is your dog?" Miss Carter asked suddenly, and Janet's face fell. + +"Grandmother decided I mustn't bring Boru," she answered with a little +catch in her voice. + +Her aunt took her hand impulsively and squeezed it. "But, my dear, +that is absolutely absurd. You will be miserable without him, +especially when everything is new to you. I will write up to Mrs. Page +to-night and ask her to have some one send him down by express as soon +as possible." + +Miss Carter was a gentle little lady, but when she made up her mind to +a thing that thing was as good as accomplished. + +"Oh, Auntie Mogs, that's awfully sweet of you," Janet said gratefully. +"I know I'll miss him awfully." + +"I never heard of such a thing," Phyllis protested. "We never dreamed +you'd come without him. Why, I sent Sir Galahad to the hospital to +have him out of the way until Boru got used to his new house." + +"Oh, but you shouldn't have done that," Janet protested. "Poor kitty, +he'll feel terribly abused." + +"Well, he had a little cold and it really was the best place for him, +and of course I can go and see him any time. The hospital is only +around the corner. Tommy, what are you laughing at?" + +"You two girls talk about your dog and cat just as if they were +children. Are you going to make household pets of all my livestock +when you come to the ranch next summer?" + +"Of course," Phyllis and Janet answered, laughing. + +"Now, don't bother Janet," Miss Carter interrupted before Phyllis could +say anything more; "she is busy looking at the city, and I know she +would rather do that than listen to you. We are on Fifth Avenue now, +dear, and that lovely building on your right is Tiffany's." + +Janet looked out of first one window and then the other. It was all +very new and exciting to her. She had been to Boston several times, +but Boston, beautiful city that it is, is not New York. + +"It's awfully full, isn't it?" she said at last, and Tom laughed +heartily. + +"Don't you like it?" Phyllis asked in dismay. + +"Oh, of course I do, but somehow I wish it would stand still for just a +minute and give me a chance to look at it." + +"I'm afraid it will never do that, my dear," Miss Carter laughed. "But +you won't find it noisy where we are, and I know you will love the +park." + +"Do look," Phyllis pointed towards the west. "It's clearing, I knew it +would and here's the park." + +Central Park is a refreshing sight to see after the noise and confusion +of the streets, and to Janet's eyes the soft green of the grass and the +great trees, resplendent in their autumn dress, was comforting indeed. +The sun was just visible between two sullen gray clouds, but it only +peeked out for a minute and then as though it were depressed by what it +saw, it hurried to bed. + +"I don't blame it," Phyllis said, as she watched the last gleam of red +fade into the clouds. + +Janet nodded in perfect understanding. It was not the last time that, +without the aid of words, the Page twins were to understand and share +each other's thoughts. + +The taxi drew up at the house at last, and Annie hurried to the side +walk to help with bags. She was a servant that Miss Carter had had for +many years and she was greatly excited over Janet's arrival. + +Phyllis dashed up the stairs, pulling Janet behind her, and instead of +waiting even for a minute in the living-room she hurried her up the +second flight of stairs and threw open the door of her room. + +"Oooooh!" Janet stood perfectly still and looked and looked. To +Phyllis it seemed as though she were never going to speak, then at last +she said, "Oh!" again and sank down on the soft bed. + +"Like it?" Phyllis tried to make her voice sound cool, but she did not +succeed in keeping the eagerness out of it. + +"It's fairyland!" Janet exclaimed. "Oh, Phyllis, I never dreamed +anything could be half so beautiful." + +Phyllis gave a great sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that," she +said, laughing, "and now come and see the rest of the house." + +Janet followed from one charming room to another, but she was +speechless until she came to the library--a big brown room, filled with +books, low comfy chairs and shaded lamps. + +"Phyllis, it's just too wonderful to be true!" she exclaimed. + +"Well, it's not the Enchanted Kingdom,"--Phyllis laughed--"but we hope +it will be a substitute." + +For the rest of the day Janet tried to say some of the things that +seemed to be bursting her heart. It was not as easy for her to enthuse +as it was for Phyllis, but her eyes shone in the firelight as she sat +beside Tommy on the sofa and listened to her aunt make plans for the +coming week. + +Phyllis need have had no fears, for there was not a moment spared in +regret for the four-poster bed. How could there be, when such a pink +and white nest awaited her? She undressed that night still in a half +dream. + +"Janet, have you gone to sleep yet?" Phyllis's voice called through +the dark, long after the house had quieted down for the night. + +Janet sat up and laughed joyously. + +"No," she whispered back, "I'm afraid to." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SCHOOL + +Two big old-fashioned drawing-rooms thrown into one made the study hall +at Miss Harding's school. It was not a bit like an ordinary +schoolroom, for a fireplace filled one corner of it, books and pictures +covered the walls, and in every window flowers nodded. Only the rows +of double desks bespoke study. + +On the Monday after Janet's arrival there was a suppressed current of +excitement in the air. At the slightest sound from the hall every eye +turned expectantly toward the door. + +Phyllis was sitting in her old seat beside Muriel Grey; but the old +feeling of friendship that had always existed between the two was +missing, and it was to Sally Ladd that Phyllis turned for sympathy. + +Sally was sitting just behind her, and she took advantage of every +glance that Miss Baxter, who was on duty at the desk, cast in any other +direction. + +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot," she whispered excitedly, "if she doesn't +come soon I shall expire." Phyllis nodded and looked again at the door. + +Janet was with Miss Harding in her office upstairs. The principal was +deciding the grade she had better enter, and to Phyllis the decision +was all important. Although she would never have admitted it to any +one, the thought of Janet in any class but her own made her miserable. + +As for the rest of the girls, they were all eager and curious to see +the new twin, as Sally insisted upon calling Janet. Eleanor and +Rosamond had already met her. Sally had been in bed with a cold when +Phyllis had called up to ask her to luncheon, and she was still waiting +for her first glimpse of her. + +At last the door opened and Janet came into the room. It was an +entirely new Janet from the one who had arrived at the Grand Central +Station a few days before; that is, to all outward appearance. She had +on a dark blue serge dress with white collar and cuffs, and her hair +was tied loosely in the nape of her neck with a black ribbon. The +curls, that Martha had tried so hard to keep tidy, were blowing about +her face, her cheeks were pale from nervousness, and her eyes shone +brighter than ever. + +Miss Harding nodded to Miss Baxter, and then turned to the girls. + +"I think we have all been more than usually interested in Phyllis's +twin sister," she said, smiling. "I want to introduce her to you; this +is Janet Page. You had better all look at her very hard for I think it +is going to be almost impossible to tell her from Phyllis unless we are +very careful. Perhaps I'll have to ask one of them to wear a pink +string tied to her finger and the other a green." + +The girls, including Janet, laughed heartily. Whispers of "she's the +very image," "what a dear," and "won't it be funny," ran around the +room. + +"I must find you a seat, my dear," Miss Harding continued. "Let me +see. It would never do to put you beside Phyllis, for we'd all be sure +then that we were seeing double. I think--Sally, are you alone?" she +asked. + +Sally stood up. "Yes, Miss Harding," she replied so quickly that the +girls laughed. + +"Well, then I think Janet will sit beside you. And now you must all +get back to work for there are only a few minutes left of study period. +But this has been an occasion, hasn't it?" Miss Harding smiled, +nodded, said a few words in an undertone to Miss Baxter, and left the +room, leaving behind her a joy and charm that were always hers to give. + +Janet walked down between the rows of desks to the beckoning Sally, but +her eyes were looking into Phyllis's. As she passed her desk Phyllis +caught her hand and whispered, "What class?" + +"Yours," Janet whispered back. She did not think it necessary to add +that Miss Harding had found her ready for the grade higher but that she +had chosen to stay with Phyllis. + +Sally almost hugged her as she took her place beside her, and under +cover of supplying her with books and showing her the lessons, she +managed to talk until the bell rang. There was a ten-minute recess +before lessons began. The girls made the most of it and crowded around +Janet's desk. + +"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was there ever such luck?" Sally +demanded. "I think I hypnotized Miss Harding, I really do. I thought +so hard about your sitting beside me that she simply had to let you." + +"Did you want me to sit beside you?" Janet asked with genuine surprise. + +"But of course I did,"--Sally was equally surprised. + +"It was rank favoritism," laughed Eleanor. "I thought too, good and +hard. Why I even pointed to the forlorn and empty chair beside me and +it didn't do a bit of good." + +"Introduce us, introduce us," several voices demanded, and Phyllis was +kept busy. Even the seniors came and laughed and envied. It was quite +a reception. + +"What a lucky girl you are," one of them, a tall girl with +copper-colored hair named Madge Cannan, exclaimed, "I've wanted a twin +all my life and _I_ never found one." + +"Poor Madge, I'll be your twin," some one offered. + +"Can't do it," Phyllis laughed. "There's only one twin in the world +and I've got her." + +"I'm sorry,"--Janet looked at the older girl and spoke quite seriously. +"It would be very nice to have two _yous_." + +Madge flushed, and the girls laughed. + +"Of all the precious things to say," she exclaimed. "Phyllis, I can't +speak for the rest, but as far as I am concerned your nose is +completely out of joint." + +Just then the bell rang, and the day's lessons began. + +The next recess was at eleven-thirty, when hot chocolate and crackers +were served. School did not let out until one-thirty, and Miss Harding +thought the girls needed something to eat before that time. + +"Now, Sally, leave Phyllis's twin alone," Rosamond insisted, as she +handed Janet her cup and prepared to sit down beside her. "You've had +her all day long and now it's some one else's turn." + +Janet looked from one girl to the other in mystified amazement. She +had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in all her life and +she couldn't understand it. For one terrible moment she thought they +were making fun of her, but a glance at their smiling faces reassured +her on that point but came no nearer helping her solve their reason. + +[Illustration: She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in +all her life and she couldn't understand it] + +"Thank you," she said quietly. It was fortunate that the girls did not +expect her to do much talking and were content with her shy answers. +Perhaps the interest in her brown eyes made up for her lack in that +direction. + +"Do you play basket ball?" Eleanor was asking. + +"No." Janet shook her head. + +"Well, then I'll teach you. We play this year, and you simply must +love it." + +"Do you like to swim?" Rosamond demanded, and again Janet shook her +head. + +What must these girls think of her! Why, she couldn't do anything. + +"Skate?" some one else asked. + +"No, I don't." Janet looked imploringly at Phyllis, but for once she +was looking at some one else. Only Sally noticed the look and she gave +no sign--then-- + +"What can you do?" It was Muriel who spoke and in spite of the angry +eyes that were turned toward her she managed to smile, but it wasn't a +pretty smile. + +For a minute Janet's face flamed to a deep red, then as suddenly her +cheeks grew very white. There was a pathetic silence. She knew that +it would end soon, but before it ended she must answer or Phyllis would +be ashamed of her. + +"I'm afraid I can't play any games," she said slowly; "you see, I never +went with girls and I never went to school." + +"Did you go with boys then?" Muriel still smiled. She felt quite sure +that the answer would be "no." + +"Why, yes, I did," Janet confessed, "and, you see, they liked to play +ball and to go sailing or canoeing,"--she thought of Peter Gibbs, and +the thought of him made the color come back to her cheeks--natural +color this time. + +"We coasted a lot in the winter and then of course there was always +fishing," she finished lamely. How could she explain the hundred and +one things that went to make up her days in Old Chester? + +"Oh, well, I suppose you will find it very strange here." It was a +chastened Muriel that spoke. + +"Now, my Aunt Jane's poll parrot, I ask you, why under the sun should +she?" Sally broke the silence that followed angrily. + +Eleanor laughed at Janet. + +"Have you been properly introduced to Sally's Aunt Jane's poll parrot?" +she asked to change the subject. + +"He's a very wise bird, and we all consult him when our own reason +fails,"--Rosamond took up the explanation. + +"Sally consults him oftener than any of the rest of us, because you +see, Sally's reason fails her oftener. Excuse my breaking into the +conversation, but no one has had the manners to introduce me. My name +is Daphne Hillis, but no one ever calls me anything but Taffy on +account of my hair." It was a long speech, but the speaker took twice +as long as was necessary to say it; her slow drawl held a hint of +laughter, and her voice sounded warm and furry. + +Janet looked at her and laughed without meaning to. + +"How do you do," she said. "I'm awfully glad to know about the poll +parrot," she added with a smile. + +Phyllis, who had been talking, very much against her will, to one of +the teachers, joined them and nodded to Taffy. Janet noticed that she +looked surprised and pleased. + +Daphne smiled lazily. + +"I like your twin, Phyllis," she drawled and then left them. + +"Now isn't that just like Taffy?" Sally demanded. + +"Not a bit," Eleanor protested. "Taffy likes very few people." + +"Well, you know what I mean," Sally insisted. "It's like her to say a +thing like that and then leave." + +It was not until Janet and Phyllis were alone in the living-room that +Phyllis explained. + +"Daphne Hillis is the most popular girl in school," she said, "but I +think she has fewer friends than any other girl, and that's what makes +it strange." + +"But if she's so popular?" Janet queried. + +"Oh, she could have dozens of friends, but she doesn't seem to want +them. She's queer and different somehow; none of us understand her, +but we all love her." + +Janet looked out of the window and smiled softly to herself. If being +different from other girls meant being like Daphne, why, being +different was not so bad after all. + +She didn't even bother to turn her head when Phyllis exclaimed angrily, + +"I think I hate Muriel Grey." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TOM'S LAST DAY + +"Tommy, I call it just plain mean, for you to go away." Phyllis was +perched on the arm of her brother's chair, and she gave him a little +shake to emphasize her words. + +Tom, by a deft twist of a wrist and a long reach with his other arm, +laid her very gently on the floor at his feet and held her so that she +could not move. + +"Mustn't call your big brother names," he chided. "See what happens to +little girls when they do?" + +"Oh, Tommy, let me up, you wretch!" Phyllis struggled, but she was +quite powerless. + +"Janet, come and help me," she called. "Tom is killing me." + +"What good do you think Janet can do?" Tom inquired calmly, as Janet +could be heard running down the stairs. + +"I don't know," Phyllis confessed, "but she will do something. Oh, +Janet, save me! Look what Tommy is doing to me." + +Janet stood in the doorway and laughed, then she made a dive for her +brother, but instead of trying to use strength she tickled him. + +"Here, stop; that's no fair," he protested, but Janet only renewed her +efforts, and Phyllis, taking advantage of his helplessness, jumped up. +After that it was only a matter of seconds before Tommy was on the sofa +completely muffled by cushions. + +"Pax, pax, I'll be good," he panted. "What do you want me to do?" + +"Say you are never going home," Phyllis commanded. + +"I'm never going home," Tom repeated meekly. + +They let him up, and he tried to smooth his hair and straighten his tie. + +"Thank goodness that's settled!" Phyllis exclaimed. "And now what do +you propose doing to amuse us?" + +"It's Saturday, you know," Janet reminded him. + +"Auntie Mogs, I appeal to you," Tom said, as Miss Carter entered the +room. "Is this fair? These two Comanche Indians hold me helpless on +the sofa, extract a promise that I will never go home, and now they +want me to amuse them besides." + +"All day," Phyllis said. + +"All day long," echoed Janet. + +Miss Carter laughed. "I'm afraid I can't help you out, Tom; you +brought it upon yourself, but of course you know that a promise made in +self-defense is not binding." + +"Isn't it, though?" Phyllis demanded, and Janet started to tickle again. + +"Say it is binding," she commanded. + +"Oh, anything, anything, only stop!" Tom begged. "I am at your mercy, +what do you want me to do?" + +"Well, we might take a walk in the park this morning," Phyllis +suggested. "Janet hasn't seen my pet lion yet, and I'm crazy to show +him to her." + +"And we have to go to the station this afternoon to meet Boru," Janet +added happily. Miss Carter, true to her promise, had written to Mrs. +Page, with the result that Janet's dog was expected that day. + +"And after that--" Phyllis cupped her chin in her hand and appeared to +give the matter serious consideration. + +"Don't you think after that you might rest awhile?" Auntie Mogs +inquired. + +"Saturday comes but once a year; I mean, week," Phyllis chanted, "and +it's foolish to rest." + +"I have an idea," Tom said suddenly; "if you promise not to tickle me +in the station when I go to buy my ticket and behave yourselves +generally, I will give you a surprise party. No, I won't tell you what +it's to be, that's my affair, but I promise it will be something nice." + +"Something to do?" Phyllis inquired. + +Tom nodded. + +"Will you promise?" + +"Shall we?" Phyllis looked at Janet. + +"Yes, let's, I love surprises," Janet agreed. + +"We promise," they said together. + +"Well, then, go get your things on, and we will go over and interview +this lion friend of Phyllis's." Tom sighed his relief when the girls +had gone. + +"We'll miss you, Tom," Miss Carter said gently; "must you really go +to-morrow?" + +"Indeed, I must. I should have gone weeks ago," Tom replied, "but I +couldn't leave those two youngsters. Tell you what it is, Auntie Mogs, +it isn't every man that finds two such sisters. I wish you were all +going back with me," he added wistfully. + +"Dear Tom, the summer isn't very far away." Miss Carter patted his +shoulder affectionately. + +"Then you'll really come?" + +"Of course we will. The girls are making plans already. The only +thing that worries me is that Mrs. Page may want Janet with her this +summer." + +"Oh, I fixed all that," Tom assured her. "Grandmother knows you are +coming to me, but I think she expects you all at Old Chester for +Christmas." + +"Oh, that would be delightful," Miss Carter said warmly. "A change +would do the girls so much good. It's just the time when school gets a +little monotonous and then, too, if Janet has a visit to look forward +to it may keep her from growing homesick." + +"Homesick! Why you haven't seen any symptoms of that, have you?" Tom +demanded, sitting up straight and looking at his aunt. + +Miss Carter laughed at his concern. + +"Nothing very alarming," she said, "but I don't think she quite +understands school yet. She doesn't seem to want to talk about it, for +one thing." + +"But Phyllis says the girls all like her?" + +"I am sure they do, but perhaps she doesn't realize it quite yet. +Girls are very strange sometimes, Tom, but I can see Phyllis is +worried." + +Tom had only time to nod, for the girls came back with their hats and +coats on and the subject had to be dropped. + +"It's a glorious day," Phyllis enthused as they entered the park and +headed toward the zoo. "I wonder if Akbar will remember me." + +"Oh, undoubtedly," Tom teased. "Lions are noted for their wonderful +memories." + +"Have you known him long?" Janet inquired mischievously. + +"I have. Akbar and I have been friends for over two years, and you can +laugh if you want to but he does know me," Phyllis retorted. + +And indeed it almost seemed as though he did. They entered the lion +house to find a number of people around the cage, for Akbar was a +mighty beast, and people were apt to linger, fascinated, before him. + +This morning he was lying with his huge paws over his nose, the picture +of disgust. + +"Oh, my beauty, isn't he a love?" Phyllis demanded, forgetting that her +voice carried far in its eagerness. + +The people around the cage laughed and turned to look at her, but only +Tom and Janet felt embarrassed. Phyllis was gazing at Akbar. + +"Come over here and talk to me," she urged. "I want you to stand up +and roar." + +Akbar opened one sleepy eye and then the other, lifted his splendid +head and finally after a little more coaxing stood up and stretched. + +"You see he does remember me," Phyllis said triumphantly. "I knew he +would." + +Tom and Janet looked at each other and winked solemnly. + +Phyllis refused to leave until, with the aid of the keeper, who seemed +to be an old friend of hers, she had made Akbar roar for a large piece +of meat. + +"That's the way he says please, bless his darling heart," she +explained, and the keeper nodded assent. + +"The little lady has a great way with him, sir," he said to Tom. "It +do seem as though he knows her, for he'll get up and come to the front +of his cage when he won't for another living soul, but I do be always +saying that lions be rare intelligent beasts." + +"My sentiments exactly," Tom agreed affably, but he hurried the girls +out into the sunshine. + +"I didn't want him to tell me that Phyllis ought to have been brought +up as a lion tamer,"--he laughed--"and I could see that he was going to +with the slightest encouragement." + +Phyllis was silent most of the way home, Akbar always filled her with +odd hopes, too vague to be put into words but strong enough to make her +restless. He had the same effect on her that some of the statues in +the museum had. + +After luncheon they went down to meet the train that carried at least +one very excited passenger. All the way from Old Chester Boru had done +his doggish best to tell all the brakemen in the train that he was +going to his mistress at last. + +He very nearly ate Janet up when he spied her down the length of the +baggage platform. As for Janet, she sat down on the floor and hugged +him until Tom bribed her to get up by offering to buy Boru some ice +cream. + +It was a merry party that came back to Auntie Mogs's in a taxicab and +Boru, in his excitement, insisted upon licking even the chauffeur's ear. + +Janet sat with him in her lap for the rest of the happy afternoon. + +Tom's surprise party was a great success. At a little after six, he +told the girls to be ready to go out, and Auntie Mogs suggested that +they wear their prettiest frocks. + +"Of course you can do as you like," she said with a twinkle in her eye, +"but I am going to wear my black lace." + +"Auntie Mogs, you know what the surprise is," Phyllis accused. "Tell +us, please do." + +But Auntie Mogs went off to her own room, singing softly to herself. + +The girls dressed as quickly as they could, and discussed the +possibilities. + +"I think we are going to dinner at one of those huge hotels," Janet +said. "I know it will be thrilling." + +"Yes, I think that's part of it too," Phyllis agreed. + +"Only part?" Janet inquired. + +"Hum, well, maybe that will be all." Phyllis did not wish to voice the +thought that was making her smile. + +"And quite enough too," Janet replied. + +But dinner at a hotel was not all. A theater followed, and Janet, who +had never seen a play before, was so excited and thrilled that people +around her who had come expecting to be bored went home chuckling over +the memory of her shining eyes. + +They reached home tired and sleepy but very happy. + +"It would have been a perfect day if I hadn't kept thinking that Tommy +was going away to-morrow," Phyllis sighed and yawned. "Why do we +always have to have some little thing to spoil perfect fun, I wonder." + +"There is a reason," Janet answered dreamily. "It has something to do +with roses and thorns, but I'm too sleepy to remember, only I do wish, +Tommy, you wouldn't go." + +"To bed with you," Tom laughed, as he kissed them both, "and happy +dreams." + +They were asleep in a very short time, but curiously enough they did +not dream of dancing and music as they had expected, for Phyllis +dreamed of Akbar and Janet of Boru. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DAPHNE'S ADVICE + +Tom left for the West the next day, and Janet and Phyllis returned from +the station with Auntie Mogs. They were very quiet for the rest of the +evening, for they were busy with their own thoughts. + +Janet faced another week of school and she dreaded it. If she could +only stay at home with Phyllis and Auntie Mogs and Boru, instead of +having to face all those girls again. She had tried at first to find +her place among them, but the old dread of being "different" made her +shy and self-conscious; even with Daphne before her as an example of +the charms of originality she had failed, failed utterly. + +It was partly the girls' fault. They had made a tremendous fuss about +her the first few days and then, as the novelty had worn off, they had +settled back into their own ways, and Janet had not understood the +change. Her shyness made her morbid, and by the end of the first week +she had made up her mind that she had failed in some way, and she +construed the girls' thoughtless indifference to mean dislike. + +It is no wonder that she dreaded the thought of returning; it meant +hard work to keep a stiff upper lip and to smile in spite of her +heartache. Only one thought was clear, and that was that Phyllis must +not know. + +But Phyllis did know. There was something wrong, she felt sure, but +she could not understand what it was. She had been delighted with the +way her friends had welcomed her twin, but when Janet had seemed to +refuse their offers of friendship she could only conclude that she did +not like them. But Phyllis would not accept any such explanation +meekly. Janet was not happy, therefore something must be done, and she +decided to talk the matter over with Sally. + +She chose the noon recess, when Janet remained in the study hall to +finish a composition she was writing. + +Sally listened gravely. + +"What _shall_ I do about it?" Phyllis finished dolefully. + +"Well, something," Sally replied decidedly. "I don't know just what, +but something's wrong, and we will have to ferret it out. She's +strange, of course, and she doesn't understand us very well. I've seen +her look at me as if she thought I were crazy sometimes. She acts as +though she didn't like us, but I think she does really. Time's the +thing, of course, but it won't do to wait until the girls begin to +resent her standoffishness." + +"Oh, Sally, don't," pleaded Phyllis. "Hello, Taffy," she added, as +Daphne passed slowly behind her chair. + +"'Lo," Daphne drawled. + +In another part of the room another group of girls were discussing +Janet. + +"She's really not a bit like Phyllis," Eleanor said with a frown. "I +can't make her out." + +"Neither can any one else," replied Rosamond. "She's queer." + +"I've never been able to get anything but yes or no out of her," +another girl complained. "I call her just plain slow." + +"She's always fearfully polite," some one else objected. "I never +heard her use a single slang word." + +"Oh, well, Sally will cure her of that,"--Rosamond laughed. + +Eleanor sighed. It was so easy to be goodnatured that she couldn't +understand anybody taking the trouble to sulk. + +"We must be nice to her anyway," she said decidedly. "She's Phyllis's +twin, and she's in our class." + +"Suppose so," the others agreed, as the bell rang. + +When Sally and Phyllis returned to the study hall, Janet was still at +her desk. She looked up and smiled as Phyllis spoke to her, but she +went on with her work. + +Sally watched her critically and sighed. She was awfully sorry for her +but she was angry too. She wanted to shake her, to make her laugh or +cry or do something besides just sitting there with that forced smile +and her brown eyes ready to flood with tears any minute. + +"I wish she would bawl and have it over with," she thought to herself. + +Janet lifted the lid of her desk to put away her papers, and Sally +lifted hers at the same time and bent her head so that she could speak +without being seen from the desk. + +"Phyllis is coming over to my house this afternoon," she whispered; +"will you come too?" + +"Oh, thanks, I'd like to," Janet replied eagerly. + +Sally sighed with relief. So far so good. Once in her own home, with +a box of candy between them, they could surely straighten everything +out. + +As for Janet, she had hardly accepted the invitation before she +regretted it. Sally only wanted her because she knew Phyllis would not +come without her, or so she argued. + +"I won't be a bother to them," she declared vehemently. "_I won't._" + +So when Sally and Phyllis hurried to the study hall after being +detained by Miss Baxter at the close of school, Janet was nowhere to be +found. + +"But she said she'd come," Sally exclaimed angrily. "Oh, she's left a +note on my desk, listen-- + + +"Dear Sally--" (she read) + +"I am sorry that I won't be able to come to your house with Phyllis +this afternoon, but I have just remembered something that I must hurry +home to do. + +"Thank you very much for bothering to ask me. + +"JANET." + + +"My Aunt Jane's poll parrot!" was all poor Sally could say. + +"But she didn't have anything to do at home," Phyllis protested. "Oh, +Sally, what is the matter with her, and what shall I do?" + +"You'll come home with me first of all," Sally replied with +determination; "then later in the afternoon we will go over to your +house, as though nothing had happened, and perhaps we can persuade her +to come out for a walk." + +"All right, if you think that's best,"--Phyllis agreed to the plan, +dismally. "But I warn you I won't be very good fun." + +"If she would only come to her senses," Sally exclaimed. + + +In the meantime, Janet had hurried away from school. She did not want +Phyllis to see her for, with that lump in her throat, she knew an +explanation would mean tears, and Janet hated tears. + +Her steps lagged before she had gone very far, and she walked on +slowly, deep in an unhappy revery, too miserable to notice the quick +footsteps that were rapidly gaining on her. + +"Hello, Phyllis's twin!" The soft, half-laughing drawl was +unmistakable, and Janet turned quickly, to see Daphne beside her. + +"Hello," she answered slowly. No need to force a smile for her; she +wouldn't be deceived by it. + +Daphne did not appear to notice anything amiss. She looked lazily down +at the wet and muddy sidewalks and shrugged her shoulders. + +"Park's better than this," she suggested. "Let's cut over to it." + +They walked in silence until they gained the path that ran around the +reservoir. + +"Looks wintry, doesn't it?" she asked idly. They stopped and looked +over the iron railing into the dull green water. + +It was a somber autumn day. The sky was banked with dark gray clouds, +and a high wind swept through the trees, tearing away the last leaves +and whirling them to the ground. + +"I suppose so," Janet replied indifferently. "I like it," she added +listlessly. + +"Of course, but it's silly of you," Daphne agreed with her odd little +laugh. "Awfully silly." + +"What do you mean?" Janet looked up at her suddenly. + +"It's silly to like dreary things, even days, and it's most awfully +silly to be dreary yourself. Not fair, you know, when every body's +doing their best to be nice." + +"But they're not," Janet said quickly. "They were the first day and +then--" + +Daphne turned slowly and looked at her. For once her drooping lids +fully uncovered the sea green eyes that they were usually at such pains +to hide. A strand of her taffy-colored hair blew across her face, and +she tucked it carefully under her hat before she answered. + +"So that's it, is it?" There was a hint of something besides laughter +in her velvety voice. "I didn't understand; what happened?" + +"I don't know," Janet answered dully; "perhaps I did something they +didn't like or perhaps they just stopped bothering with me; I don't +know." + +"But I know,"--Daphne laughed. "You expected too much. When the girls +stopped making a fuss about you, you thought they stopped liking you, +so here you are going off in corners and looking sadder than a wet +chicken, and you think you are doing the best you can, eh?" + +"Go on," Janet said quietly. + +"Ever have a pet rabbit?" Daphne inquired with mild interest. + +"Yes, but what--" Janet stammered. + +"Remember the first day you had him, the fuss you made about him and +then how you got sort of tired of him?" + +"Why, yes, I suppose--" + +Daphne laughed and yawned, showing all her pretty white teeth. + +"Little simpleton, you're the rabbit," she said. "The girls still like +you, but they're used to you and they rather expect you to do something +now. It's your turn to do tricks, like the bunny." + +"And I--" Janet began. + +"Oh, you sit in the corner and sulk and say, 'Yes, thank you,' and 'no, +thank you,' and the girls are discouraged. Can't blame them, you know. +You're Phyllis's sister, and they have a right to expect more from +you." She said it all in her soft furry voice, and it was impossible +to resent it. Janet watched her fasten her coat collar up closer about +her neck, but she could not speak. + +Daphne apparently did not expect her to. + +"It's your turn now," she repeated and without another word turned and +walked away. + +Janet did not follow her except with her eyes. She seemed rivetted to +the spot on which she stood. When Daphne was out of sight she turned +once more to the reservoir, but this time she saw more than the clouds +reflected in the dull water. She saw her own mistake. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A CHANGE IN JANET + +"Hello, you two, where are you bound for?" Eleanor joined Sally and +Phyllis as they were on their way to Sally's house and took them each +by an arm. + +"Home," Sally replied, "home to muse with wonder and sorrow over the +sickening cruelty of Ducky Lucky." + +"I know," Eleanor nodded sympathetically; "isn't to-morrow's math. +simply terrible. I'm not going to try to do it." + +"Well, I am," Sally announced emphatically. "Catch me staying in for +an hour and listening to a long and weary lecture on my many sins; no +thanks. If the worse comes to the worst, I will make Daddy do it for +me." + +"Where's Rosey-posey?" inquired Phyllis. "You're not going to walk all +the way home to your house, are you?" Eleanor lived across the city on +Riverside Drive. + +"Walk, well, I guess not, but I had to make a start to get Rosey away +from the piano. She's playing while Madge teaches some of the other +seniors how to dance the latest step. I wish she'd hurry, I hate +loosing my special bus." She glanced behind her and then stopped. +"Here she comes now." + +Rosamond joined them. She was out of breath but she was laughing. + +"Oh, my hat!" she exclaimed. "Muriel will kill me yet. I met her in +the cloakroom and we went out together. I thought she looked worried, +but I didn't catch on until she began making excuses to get rid of me, +then I looked ahead and down the street, busily tying his shoe, _HE_ +was waiting." + +"Well, I hope you had the manners to leave at once?"--Eleanor laughed. +"Or did you wait and make her miserable!" + +Rosamond winked one eye mischievously. + +"I behaved with perfect decorum," she replied. "I said I really must +run for my bus as the conductor was a cousin of my sister-in-law's aunt +and he let me ride for nothing. I said it loud too, so that He could +hear, and Muriel was wild." + +"Oh, Rosey, how could you, you wretch; poor Muriel!" Phyllis tried not +to laugh, but gave up and joined the rest. + +Rosamond turned them down one of the side streets abruptly. + +"Where are you going?" Eleanor demanded. "I want to go home; I'm +hungry." + +"Now don't be absurd," Rosamond admonished. "You can eat any old time, +but it isn't often that you can see what I am going to show you." + +"Oh, now what are you up to?" Eleanor protested, but Rosamond only +pointed to the corner of the next avenue and told them to watch. + +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot, Muriel!" Sally was the first to see that the +girl and boy approaching them was their classmate and her friend. They +would soon meet. + +"I'll giggle, I know I will," Eleanor warned them. "Rosey, it's all +your fault. Let's turn around." + +"Never," Rosamond protested. "Just walk like little ladies and bow +politely when they pass," she said with a ridiculous primness that was +exactly like the art teacher at school. + +They walked; there was nothing else to do; and Muriel and the boy +beside her came toward them, deep in conversation. It was noticeable +that Muriel was doing most of the talking. + +When they were even with them, Rosamond bowed formally and in a high +and very affected voice she exclaimed, + +"Why, Muriel, how _do_ you do?"' + +Sally called a careless hello, and Eleanor, too full of laughter to +dare speech, only nodded. It was Phyllis that gave a little gasp of +astonishment that was repeated in turn by the boy. He recovered +himself and pulled off his cap in response to her quick smile. + +They were hardly out of earshot before the girls turned to her. + +"Phyllis Page, you've known him all the time, you wretch," Rosamond +accused. + +"I have not," Phyllis denied. "I was never so surprised in my life." + +"What's his name?" Sally demanded, but Phyllis shook her head. + +"I don't know," she protested, "honestly I don't. I have only seen him +once before and then I wasn't really introduced, his first name, or +rather his nickname, is Chuck, and that's all I know, except,"--she +added provokingly, "that he doesn't believe in brownies." And that was +all she would say on the subject, though the girls did their best to +make her explain. + +"Well, we have to go or Eleanor will faint from hunger," Rosamond said +regretfully as they reached the avenue again and waited for the bus. +"But I'll find out some more about this, if I have to ask Muriel," she +added laughingly. + +Sally and Phyllis hurried home. Now that the girls had left them, they +forgot everything but Janet and their plans. They were late in +reaching Sally's home, but they found a dainty luncheon waiting for +them and Sally's mother was delighted to see Phyllis. + +"But where's the twin?" she demanded. "I do want to see her so much. +Sally says she is the very image of you and a darling too." + +Phyllis looked uncomfortable and tried to smile. It was Sally who +explained. + +"She was coming, but at the last minute she had to go home. Phyl and I +are going over for her a little later and, darling mother of mine, we +will bring her over here to call on you _if_ you promise us hot +cinnamon toast and cake to go with tea." + +Mrs. Ladd laughed and pinched Sally's cheek. She was a tall and +strikingly handsome woman with flashing black eyes and the jolliest +laugh in the world. All Sally's friends loved her almost as much as +they loved Sally, and she was always in demand with Auntie Mogs to act +as chaperone to the various skating and theater parties. + +"You are getting very grown up," she answered now, her eyes twinkling. +"Last year it was hot chocolate you wanted and the year before that ice +cream and now it's tea." + +"And we really hate it," Phyllis laughed. "We'd lots rather have +chocolate." + +"Oh, well, give us chocolate then," Sally exclaimed. "Only be sure +there's plenty of toast." + +"For Phyllis's twin, I suppose," Mrs. Ladd laughed. "Very well, I'll +remember," she promised, as she left them to go out. + +The girls ate hurriedly and then talked up in Sally's room until they +thought it was time to go back. + +"What shall we do if she won't come?" Sally said seriously. + +"Oh, there's no fear of that," Phyllis replied hastily. "She'll come +if we are there to make her and she will love your mother, I know she +will. I do hope she hasn't gone out anywhere with Auntie Mogs." + +"Let's hurry," Sally said, the idea making her feel the need for +immediate action. "If she's out we can wait for her." + +But Janet was not out. She was sitting in the library window-seat with +Boru in her lap. She saw the girls coming up the street and she +knocked on the window to them and waved. + +"I hoped you'd bring Sally back with you," she called as they ran up +the steps. "Auntie Mogs is out and Boru is too sleepy to be very good +company. I almost went over to get Sir Galahad, but I thought they +might know I wasn't you and refuse to give him to me." + +Sally had never heard Janet say so much at one time, and she looked at +her with a new interest. Perhaps she was going to be human after all +and without their aid. She devoutly hoped so. + +"We came back especially to get you," she replied as she patted Boru. +"Mother wants you to come to tea with her and incidentally us." + +"Oh, that will be bully," Janet said, and Phyllis had hard work to +believe her ears. + +"What are you reading?" she inquired as a book dropped from Janet's lap. + +Janet picked it up and laughed. + +"Elsie Dinsmore," she answered, blushing a little. "I found it behind +a shelf in the corner and I have been laughing myself sick over it." + +"Laughing?" Phyllis was more surprised than ever. As she remembered +the Elsie Books they were more calculated to make you weep than laugh. + +"Yes, Elsie was always going off into corners to cry. I've just +finished the part where her father made her play a hymn on Sunday and +she had to be carried fainting to her room and I don't know just why +but I began to think I was like Elsie and, well, I think I'm cured," +she ended in confusion. + +"Oh, Janet, of all the silly notions!" Phyllis exclaimed. "Since when +have you been going off into corners to weep?" + +"Or fainted at hearing music on Sunday?" added Sally. + +"Well, I haven't exactly," Janet admitted, "but I have done a lot of +silly sulking, but honestly I didn't realize how silly I was being." + +"You never sulked in your whole entire life, Janet Page," Phyllis +protested warmly. "I won't have you saying such a thing." + +"Of course not," Sally agreed, no less warmly; "do chuck that silly old +book out of the window and come out for a walk. Bring Boru, too; +mother will adore him." + +Janet went upstairs, still laughing, and Sally and Phyllis were left +staring at each other. + +"What has come over her?" Sally inquired. + +"I don't know and I don't much care," Phyllis answered happily. + +Janet was humming as she put on her berry cap and pulled it over at a +rakish angle. She had spent a very profitable afternoon laughing at +herself. At first the laughter had been a little too grim, but before +long the grimness had disappeared and only a good-natured ridicule was +left. It is good to be able to laugh at yourself once in a while, but +Janet was glad that the time was over. + +She had made up her mind not to tell them about Daphne, that was to be +her secret. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TWINS INDEED + +"Snow!" Every girl looked up as Janet spoke, and a ripple of laughter +ran around the room. + +"Janet, did you say that?"--Miss Baxter looked over her thick lens +glasses and focused her pale blue eyes on Phyllis's twin. An expectant +silence fell over the room. + +"Yes, Miss Baxter,"--Janet rose to answer. + +Miss Baxter tapped the desk with her long and callous forefinger. + +"Phyllis, I am quite aware that you are answering, and I might add that +this is not the place to practice silly jokes." + +A sudden, though quickly suppressed, snort came from behind Sally's +desk, and even Muriel, sitting beside Phyllis, giggled. + +"Janet, will you please stand up and speak for yourself?" Miss Baxter +peered a little over the desk, and her face set in hard, uncompromising +lines. + +A month had passed since the last chapter, and Janet had found a very +particular place in the school for herself. Once on the right road it +had been only a matter of a few days before the girls accepted her, and +only a matter of weeks before she was one of the leading members of her +class. Her quiet humor and downright frankness made her a welcome +addition to the school, as Sally had prophesied. + +She and Phyllis had discovered how easy it was to pass for each other, +and further to confuse people they began to dress alike. Miss Gwynne, +the history teacher, had made a mistake in their identity in class one +day and had laughed about it later to the rest of the teachers. Only +Miss Baxter refused to find the story amusing. She had called it +impertinence, and then and there made up her mind that the same trick +should never be played on her. + +This morning her near-sightedness had confused her, but she was certain +that they were trying to trick her and she would have none of it. + +"But I am Janet, and I am standing up." Janet had caught some of +Daphne's drawl and used it when she remembered to. + +Miss Baxter smiled coldly but triumphantly. + +"Very well, if you persist in being childish, then I will ask Phyllis +to stand also." + +Phyllis rose, and the girls waited breathlessly. + +"Come to my desk, please," Miss Baxter continued. + +They obeyed her, Phyllis slipping her watch with its tell-tale initials +into her pocket as she walked beside Janet to the front of the room and +up to the desk that was raised on a small platform. + +Miss Baxter surveyed them with grim determination as she might have a +knotty problem in mathematics. She would not give heed to the small +voice within her that counseled care. Miss Baxter never gave heed to +anything but her own faultless judgment. + +"You," she said, pointing to Phyllis, "are Janet and you,"--she frowned +at Janet--"you are Phyllis." + +The twins did not reply. They stood before her in respectful silence. + +"Now, Janet,"--not being contradicted, Miss Baxter continued with even +more certainty--"you, I believe, spoke." She looked at Phyllis. + +"I was the one that spoke," Janet said quietly. "I said 'snow.' It is +snowing, you know." + +"We are not discussing the weather." Miss Baxter tried to silence the +room with the weight of her scorn but she failed. + +"Very well then, Phyllis, you may report to me after school." She +prided herself that the interview had been most successful. + +"Where, Miss Baxter?" Phyllis inquired. + +Miss Baxter gasped. + +"Janet, is it necessary for you to interrupt?" + +"I wasn't interrupting," Janet protested. + +Miss Baxter looked from one to the other of them and realized very +slowly and very painfully that she had made a mistake. + +"Go back to your seats," she said scornfully. "The matter is too +trivial to discuss." + +The twins did not smile; they merely walked backed to their seats and +went on studying. + +The bell rang not many minutes later. + +"My Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was there ever such a scream. My sides +ache." Sally hugged Janet in the excess of her delight. + +"Look out for rocks ahead," Eleanor warned. "Old Ducky Lucky doesn't +like to be laughed at." + +"Bless you," Phyllis protested; "we didn't laugh at her, did we, Jan?" + +"Certainly not. I'd never do anything so disrespectful," Janet +replied. "We merely answered when we were spoken to." + +"While Ducky Lucky thought you were answering for each other,"--Sally +chuckled. "Oh, why didn't somebody give me a twin. I never realized +the thrilling possibilities until now." + +"I wish you'd put on your watch again, Phyl," Rosamond said. "I feel +so foolish when I look at you sometimes. You're not really alike but I +never can remember which is which." + +Phyllis slipped her watch on, and all the girls sighed with relief. + +Daphne joined the group. + +"I offer my congratulations," she drawled. "Sort of a dual role you +were playing. Old Ducky Lucky was more ducky lucky-ish than ever. I +could hear her even from where I sit." + +"Just why do you call her Ducky Lucky?" Janet inquired. "I've always +wondered." + +The girls turned to Sally. + +"It's a long time ago," she began, "since I christened her, but it had +something to do with the way she said, 'Tut, tut'; her teeth, you know, +aren't always tight and the effect sounded just like ducky lucky, and +so I called her that. It's years ago, and of course they fit better +now, but the name still sticks." + +"Oh, Sally,"--Janet was convulsed--"she did make a noise just like that +to-day, only I didn't realize." + +"But I did,"--Phyllis laughed--"and it was all I could do to keep from +giggling." + +"Thank goodness math. is the last period; perhaps she'll have time to +forget," Janet said just as the bell rang. + +"Don't count on it," Rosamond called over her shoulder as she went back +to her desk. "Ducky Lucky never forgets." + +But mathematics class was uneventful. Miss Baxter ignored the twins, +much to their delight, for they did not have to answer a single +question. + +"Sally, you're coming home with us this afternoon, aren't you?" Janet +called as the bell rang. + +"Yes; can you wait a half a shake?" Sally replied. "I have to take a +paper over to Miss Simmons, but I'll meet you on the steps." + +"Snow!"--Phyllis laughed as she and Janet waited for her a few minutes +later--"what a lot you were responsible for to-day. Jan, whatever +possessed you to say that out loud?" + +Janet shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know; I suppose I was just +thinking out loud. I was awfully thrilled when I saw it anyway." + +"Well, I may be your twin," Phyllis mused, "but I don't pretend to +understand you. We did have fun with Ducky Lucky, though, didn't we?" + +"Yes, but she could have gotten beautifully even with us if she had +wanted to,"--Janet laughed. + +"How?" Phyllis inquired, but Sally's appearance cut short the +conversation before Janet had a chance to explain. + +They walked home through the park, and Phyllis insisted upon going in +to see Akbar. As they entered the lion house, a small body thrust +itself upon her and shouted gleefully: + +"I've found you at last! I knew I would. Where have you been all this +awful long time? I've looked for you every single day." + +It was Donald, and Phyllis was delighted to see him. She introduced +him to Sally and Janet, and then waited to hear what he would say. + +Donald looked at her twin and then at her. + +"Vers two of you," he said gravely. + +[Illustration: "Vers two of you," he said gravely] + +"Oh, you darling!" Phyllis exclaimed. "Don't look so disturbed. We're +only twins." + +Donald did not reply, he was busy looking at them again. + +"Do you think you could tell us apart?" Janet inquired. + +He nodded solemnly. + +"I fink I could," he replied, "because, you see, her eyes are like ve +brownie's--all soft and queer"--he smiled engagingly at Phyllis--"but +yours"--he turned to Janet--"have all kinds of funny little gold fings +that make vem all shiny. But I couldn't tell you apart if you shut +your eyes, I don't fink." + +"Oh, Donald, you're a great boy!" Phyllis laughed. + +"I think he's wonderful," Sally exclaimed, "and the most amazing part +of it is, he's right, Janet has little golden flecks in the brown part +of her eye and you haven't. What a way to tell you apart, but I +promise not to tell." + +"Well, not Ducky Lucky anyway," laughed Janet. + +Donald's nurse came to look for him, and bore him off in spite of his +protests. + +Phyllis described her last meeting with him and confessed to Sally that +it had been at his house that she had met Muriel's Chuck. + +"Oh, by the way," Sally suddenly remembered, "Muriel is going to give a +party. Quite an affair, I understand, and we are all going to be +invited. I suppose that Mr. Chuck will be there and a lot of other +boys; have you heard anything about it?" + +Phyllis nodded; she and Muriel had forgotten their quarrel and were +seemingly on good terms again, although Sally had taken the place in +Phyllis's heart that Muriel had occupied the year before. With Janet, +they made up what the rest of the girls called the jolly trio. Daphne +occasionally joined them, much to Janet's delight, and many were the +afternoons that they had spent together in the snuggery, a room that +the twins had fitted up to suit their particular tastes at the top of +the house. + +They were on their way up to it to-day when Miss Carter heard them and +came out of the drawing-room. + +"Late for luncheon," she chided. "You will all be very ill if you are +not careful. Were you kept in?" she questioned, laughing. + +"No, Auntie Mogs. Phyl just decided she had to see Akbar," Janet +explained. + +"Well, I don't think that was very nice to you, Sally dear," Miss +Carter protested. "Do hurry and eat your luncheon. I told Annie to +keep it hot for you, and, oh, by the way, there are some letters for +you on the hall table." She returned to the drawing-room where she was +listening to the head of a new charity who was trying to secure her +promise of support. + +Janet dashed to the table and came back with the letters. + +"Both alike and they're from town," she said as she opened hers. + +"Muriel's invitations!" Phyllis exclaimed. "And, oh, Sally, do +listen--it's to be a masquerade." + +"What luck, oh, oh, why haven't I got a twin!" Sally wailed. + +The discussion of costumes occupied the rest of the afternoon, and they +must have reached a happy conclusion for Sally went home singing, and +every time Phyllis and Janet looked at each other that evening they +burst out laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SCREENED WINDOW + +The telephone rang insistently, and Phyllis, stretched at ease on the +sofa in the snuggery, looked appealingly at Janet. + +"Darling twin of my heart, if you love me go and answer that. I'm so +comfy," she pleaded. + +Janet got up slowly from her big chair and looked reproachfully at her +sister. + +"Lazy, you're not a bit more comfy than I am, but I will go just to +prove that I have the sweeter disposition." + +"Bless you, I never doubted it," Phyllis called after her as she ran +down the steps. Then she snuggled deeper into the cushions that were +piled high about her, selected a large chocolate from the box beside +her and closed her eyes. + +It was the day before Muriel's party, and it was snowing hard. The +girls had returned wet and cold from school and decided upon spending +the rest of the day indoors. Janet, as usual, had found a book to +read, but Phyllis, after playing with Galahad and Boru, had insisted +upon interrupting, until in sheer desperation she had given it up and +they had discussed the coming masquerade. + +"It was Sally," Janet announced, returning from the 'phone. + +"And what did she want?" Phyllis inquired. "You know, Jan, we were +awfully silly not to bring Sally home with us." + +"I won't tell you what she said unless you get up and hand me those +chocolates," Janet replied as she settled herself once more in the big +tufted chair. + +Phyllis looked at the box of candy and then at the distance between it +and Janet. It was too far to reach. + +"Oh, Jan, I'm so tired," she protested. + +"All right." Janet opened her book and began to read. + +"Was it anything important?" Phyllis inquired, with pretended +indifference. + +"Fearfully,"--Janet did not look up from her book as she replied. + +Phyllis appeared to consider the matter. + +"Tell me what kind you want and I'll throw it to you," she offered by +way of compromise. + +Janet only went on reading. + +"Oh, well, if I must, I must!" Curiosity won, and Phyllis got up +slowly, the candy box in her hand. "Only never again allude to +dispositions," she finished as she gave it to Janet. + +"Thank you, dear," Janet said sweetly as she rooted in the bottom of +the box for a nut. + +"Well?" Phyllis demanded, "what did Sally want?" + +Janet finished her candy and selected another before she answered. + +"Sally called up to tell me that our costumes would be ready to try on +at four o'clock to-day and that she would call for us in Daphne's car." + +"Oh, how nice Taffy can be when she wants to." Phyllis was now wide +awake. "Did Sally say when the not-to-be-hurried Miss Pringle intended +to finish our things?" + +"To-morrow, not later than twelve o'clock." + +"Do you think she really will have them done then?" + +"I should hope so; she's had them for ages," Janet replied. "Now, +Phil, do keep still and let me read in peace until the girls come, I +have a corking story and I'm just in the middle of the most thrilling +part." + +"What is it?" Phyllis inquired. + +"'The White Company,' by Conan Doyle," Janet replied. + +"Oh, I've read that and it is a thriller. I won't bother you any +more." She turned her attentions to the candy box, and then because +she was now too wide awake to dream lazily on the lounge again she went +over to the window and looked out. + +The snow had stopped and a cold sun was struggling through a mass of +heavy clouds. She gazed below her idly. A man was on the roof of the +house across the yard. The roof covered an extension that was only one +story high but ran out from the house almost to the end of the yard, +and brought it quite near to the roof of the kitchen of Miss Carter's +house. + +Phyllis watched the man with lazy interest. He was the caretaker, she +knew, for the family was down South. He seemed to be fitting a heavy +wire screen into one of the smaller windows immediately above the +extension. + +"Now, I wonder what he's doing that for?" she said aloud to herself. +"Looks as though they were fixing that room for a baby." + +Miss Carter came in at this minute and put an end to her curiosity. + +"Oh, Auntie Mogs, Sally just called up to say that she and Daphne would +come by for us in Daphne's car, and we could all go to Miss Pringle's +and try on our costumes!" she exclaimed. + +"Why, how very nice of Daphne,"--Miss Carter smiled. "I was worrying +about your having to go out on this miserable day." + +Phyllis laughed and put her arm around her aunt. + +"You see there are no two ways about it!" she cried. "We should have a +car of our own and then you would never have to worry about our feet." + +"Oh, Phyllis, you're a great one,"--her aunt laughed. "Well, I'm +afraid I must keep on worrying for we certainly can't have a car." + +"Glad of it." Janet, for all her apparent interest for her book, had +been listening with one ear to the conversation. + +"Why, Jan,"--Phyllis looked at her in amazement--"wouldn't you like a +car?" + +"No, I hate them; silly smelly things--give me a horse every time." + +"Old fashioned," scoffed Phyllis. "I'll take a high-powered racer +every time." + +Miss Carter listened and smiled her amusement. + +"And you will both have to take a street car,"--she laughed. "Poor +abused children! Hurry along with you, and get ready or you will keep +Daphne waiting." + +"There they are now!" Phyllis exclaimed, as the front door bell pealed +merrily. "That's Sally's ring; I know it." + +Janet threw down her book, and they went to their rooms in search of +hats. + +A few minutes later they were all in the comfortable limousine, +speeding along uptown. + +"It was awfully nice of you to stop for us, Taffy," Phyllis said as +soon as the greetings were over. "This is certainly a whole lot better +than walking." + +"Yes, isn't it!" Daphne agreed. "I was tickled when mother said I +could have it. It isn't often that I can, you know." + +Sally had been looking out of the window, and suddenly she leaned +forward and knocked on the glass and waved. + +"Look!" she exclaimed. "There's little Donald; isn't he the cutest +youngster?" + +Phyllis waved too, then she looked puzzled. + +"Funny," she said under her breath. + +"What is?" Janet demanded. + +"Oh, nothing." + +Daphne looked back at Donald through the window above her head. + +"Isn't that Donald Keith?" she asked, and Phyllis nodded. + +"It is Donald Francis MacFarlan Keith,"--she laughed, "or so he told me +with much pardonable pride. He was most sympathetic when I had to +confess to only two names." + +"His father's a friend of my uncle's," Daphne explained. "It's little +Don's cousin, Chuck Vincent, that Muriel walks home with every day. +I've played tennis with him, and he's really rather fun for a boy," she +drawled. + +"For a boy?" laughed Janet. "I think boys are a whole lot more fun +than girls." + +"I don't," Daphne replied airily. "I think they are all very stuck up. +Chuck is; you'll see that to-morrow night." + +"Wonder if Miss Pringle will really have our things ready for us," +Sally said. "She is always so uncertain. If she doesn't, I think I +will die of disappointment." + +"You tell her she has to, Daphne," Janet suggested. "You can always +put on such airs, and they never fail to impress." + +"Do my best." Daphne accepted Janet's compliment calmly; she knew it +was true. Her drawl did seem to impress people, though she could never +imagine why. + +The car stopped before a dilapidated, brownstone house, and the girls +got out and hurried up the worn steps. Miss Pringle herself let them +in. She was a tall, angular woman, with wisps of untidy hair blowing +about her face, and a mouth out of which she could always produce a pin +at a moment's notice. + +"Oh, young ladies," she said distractedly. "Why have you come?" + +"We want to try on our dominoes," Sally said, rather taken aback. + +"Dominoes? Oh, yes, yes, to be sure. Step this way." + +She led them into a large room, filled with the smell of the kerosene +stove and strewn with patterns and pieces of silks. It was a +cluttered-up place. + +"Here they are!" Phyllis exclaimed, going over to the table and picking +up a dress. "Aren't they ducks?" + +"Don't touch, please," Miss Pringle said nervously; "they're only +pinned." + +She picked up one of the costumes and beckoned to Sally. + +"This is yours, Miss Ladd. Slip it over your head." + +The others crowded around and admired. + +"Oh, Sally, it's a love!" Phyllis enthused. + +Miss Pringle shook her head and sighed. + +"I can't understand why you are having them all alike," she complained. +"Now, if you had only consulted me I could have designed such a pretty +one for each of you; but, no, you must have your own way." + +"But we want them alike for a special reason," Sally explained. "It's +to be a regular masquerade, you know, and we thought that four costumes +just alike would confuse people,"--she stopped, discouraged by the lack +of Miss Pringle's attention. + +The costume was a domino made of strips of colored silks with a big +hood lined with pale yellow. Each stripe ended in a point, and a tiny +bell hung from each one. + +The girls tried them on, one at a time, and Miss Pringle pinned and +basted and lengthened and shortened. She had made costumes all her +life and no play at Miss Harding's seemed complete until she had been +consulted. + +"What are the other girls going to wear?" Daphne asked indifferently. + +"Miss Grey will have a dear little shepherdess dress, and those two +that are always together, I've mislaid their names in my mind--" + +Sally laughed and Phyllis said quickly, + +"Rosamond Dodd and Eleanor Schuyler." + +"Yes, those are the ones. Well, they are going as Jack and Jill, and, +oh, dearie me, I forgot. I know I've done my best for them all, and I +must say they had more faith in my judgment than you young ladies had." +An audible sniff ended the sentence. + +"Oh, now, Miss Pringle," Sally protested, "we have unlimited faith in +you. Didn't I prove it last year by letting you make a fairy out of me +when I wanted to be a witch? This is a special joke we are having, +that's why we want to be all alike." + +"A very poor one, if you ask me,"--another sniff. "I can understand +the Miss Pages, being as how they are twins, but--" + +The girls were ready to leave, and Daphne interrupted her politely, but +in her most approved drawl: + +"We must all have our dominoes before noon, you know," she said. "As +we are all going to dress at one house and go together, please be sure +they are delivered on time." + +"Certainly, Miss Hillis. I think I can be depended upon to keep my +promises." Miss Pringle spoke huffily, but Daphne only smiled her +slowest smile and nodded graciously as they went down the steps. + +Phyllis hesitated before she entered the waiting car. A man whom she +recognized as the caretaker of the house just back of theirs ran up the +steps and disappeared in the wake of Miss Pringle's trailing wrapper. + +"Wonder how he got here so quickly," Phyllis said to herself, and then +dismissed the subject, at an impatient "hurry up" from Sally. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE MASQUERADE + +"Aunt Jane's poll parrot, what a mob!" + +The four girls, each in a domino exactly like the others, stood at the +door of the Greys' immense drawing-room and surveyed the scene before +them. It was, of course, Sally who spoke. + +Phyllis laughed softly. "If you go about saying that, Sally, it won't +be hard to know who you are," she warned. + +"You'll have to forget Aunt Jane and her poll parrot for to-night," a +voice soft and tinkling drawled. + +This time Janet laughed. "How about your drawl, Taffy?" she inquired. + +"Oh, dear, this will never do," Phyllis protested. "We will all have +to keep as quiet as possible and only answer 'yes' and 'no.'" + +Sally's blue eyes opened wide behind her mask of black satin. + +"Oh, but that won't be any fun at all!" she cried. + +"We might mumble everything we want to say," suggested Janet; "and if +we all do it, it will be more confusing than ever." + +"Good idea, 'How do you do this evening; isn't the room beautiful?'" +Daphne mumbled in a monotone. + +"Oh, Taffy," Janet laughed, "even your very best friend wouldn't know +you." + +"Well, then let's go in and pay our respects to Muriel; she and her +mother are over there by the other door," Sally suggested, and led the +way. + +The room through which they walked was indeed beautiful. Ivory white +woodwork made a fitting frame for the pale gold brocade that hung on +the walls. Ferns and great bowls of roses filled every corner, and the +perfume of the flowers scented the warm air of the room. Two crystal +chandeliers blazed in all the glory of their rainbow colors and +reflected their brilliance in the polished floor. + +Groups of girls and boys chattered and laughed and tried to guess the +identity of each other. Every hero and heroine in history was +represented, and they nodded and bowed to dainty Mother Goose folk. + +The simplicity of the four dominoes made a strange spot of color as +they walked together towards their hostesses. They were all about the +same height and build, they marched in step, and their bells jingled in +unison. + +"How do you do," they mumbled as they shook hands. + +Muriel Grey, dressed, as Miss Pringle had suggested, in the dainty +pinks and blues of a Dresden shepherdess, stood beside her mother. She +was not masked as her guests were, and her puzzled surprise was plain +to be seen. + +"Why, who can you be?" she exclaimed. "I have guessed every girl and +boy so far, but I haven't the slightest idea who you are. Please say +something," she begged. + +"You look very pretty to-night." + +"What a lot of people there are." + +"We are all so glad to be here." + +"Think hard and you will surely guess." + +All four answers were mumbled at once and poor Muriel was more confused +than ever. + +"I think your costumes are delightful and it is great fun to have four +unknown guests," Mrs. Grey said. "I shall be watching you all +anxiously when the gong rings to unmask. Don't run away like +Cinderella when you hear it, will you?" she added, smiling. + +"No, indeed," a mumble assured her. "We will all come and say 'how do +you do' to you then in our own voices." + +Another group, this time of boys, came up, and the four hurried away. + +It was not long before the guests had all assembled and the music began. + +"Let's go over there and watch," Phyllis suggested, pointing to a bench +under a palm in the corner. "Then we can see whom we know." + +"There's John Steers, dressed as a donkey,"--Sally pointed to a tall, +ungainly boy, who presented a droll aspect as he leaned up against the +wall beside the musicians' platform. His thin body accentuated by the +large donkey's head gave him a top-heavy expression, and the forefeet +that covered his long arms hung dejectedly at his sides. + +"He doesn't look as though he were having a very good time," Janet +laughed. "Why doesn't he go and talk to some one?" + +"Not John; he perfectly hates and despises parties, but his mother +makes him go to them, and he always stands over by the musicians and +mopes just as he is doing now," Phyllis explained. + +"There are Eleanor and Rosamond over there talking to the two boys in +armor,"--Daphne pointed. + +"Of course, I'd have known them even if old Pringle had not told us +their costumes,"--Sally chuckled. "Oh, do look at that boy dressed as +Robin Hood; he is bow legged,"--she went off into convulsions of +laughter, and as the others looked at the very fat and uncomfortable +lad across the room they joined her. They had hardly time to compose +their features before three boys came up to them and bowed. + +One, the tallest of the lot, wore a monk's garb of rough brown and the +big hood completely covered his head; his face was hidden by a ghostly +white mask. The one next to him was dressed exactly like the Mother +Goose pictures of Little Jack Horner and he carried a paper pie under +one arm. The last of the trio was the most amusing; his face was +blacked and a wig of kinky black hair stood out in dozens of tiny +braids, each tied with a different colored string. He wore a red and +white calico dress that was just short enough to show his big, clumsy +boots. He made a very deep bow before Sally and said in a high shrill +voice. + +"May I have this dance, please, ma'am?" + +"With pleasure,"--Sally for a wonder did not forget to mumble. She did +not have the slightest idea who her partner was, but then that is the +fun of a masquerade. + +"And will you dance with me?" the monk asked in a very solemn tone, +bowing to Janet. + +Janet got up and then sat down again very suddenly; there was an +awkward pause, and then she managed to say: + +"But I don't know how to dance." Gone was the mumble, gone was every +thought except the misery of the minute. + +But the monk, instead of being disappointed, gave a mighty sigh of +relief. + +"Thank goodness for that," he said heartily. "I hate to dance, myself, +so let's go and see if we can't find some lemonade. This hood is so +hot I need something to cool me off." + +Janet did not wait to be coaxed. She took the arm he offered her, and +they soon disappeared into the crowd. + +Little Jack Horner shifted from one foot to the other in his +embarrassment at finding himself between two girls. At last he said, + +"I want to dance with one of you but blest if I can tell which, you are +as alike as two peas. I wish you would stop that mumbling and let me +hear your voices. I bet I know you both." + +Phyllis and Daphne looked at each other and laughed. Jack Horner had +forgotten, in his eagerness to find out who they were, to disguise his +own voice, and they both recognized him. + +"No, Jerry Dodd, we won't stop mumbling; you'll just have to choose as +best you can," Daphne said. + +Jerry looked at her curiously; there was something familiar in that +tinkly laugh. + +"Then I'll choose you," he said promptly. "You know me, so I must know +you, and before we have danced half way round the room I bet I can tell +you your name." + +"Bet you can't," Daphne teased as she got up. + +Phyllis watched them whirl away and smiled to herself. Daphne was a +beautiful dancer, and if Jerry had even a grain of sense he would +recognize her light step, for he had danced with her many times at +dancing school. She watched them circle the room once and waited for +them to pass her again. As they neared her she expected to hear +Daphne's familiar drawl, but instead she heard Jerry's pleading voice +say, + +"Ah, go on, give a fellow a chance." + +The rest of the sentence was lost for a voice close beside her asked, + +"Did you find the lemonade?" + +She turned quickly to see a knight in shining armor. A golden wig fell +to his shoulders, and a blazing cross covered the front of his tunic. +He wore a small black mask that did not hide his smiling mouth. He +carried a great sword with both hands. + +"No, Sir Galahad, I didn't," Phyllis answered. + +"Where's your monk, Friar Tuck; I thought he was with you?" Sir Galahad +inquired. + +"Did you?" Phyllis asked sweetly. She was not mumbling, but her voice +was not at all natural and she had no fear of the knight's recognizing +her for she felt quite sure she did not know him. + +"But I don't understand. When I last saw you, Howard was going to take +you into the library and teach you to dance and John was going with +you." Sir Galahad was perplexed. + +"Yet here I am." Phyllis was hugely enjoying herself. There was no +doubt that he took her for Janet, and she delighted in teasing him. + +"Do you mean to tell me that they went off and left you?" Two dark +eyebrows that contrasted oddly with the golden wig came together in a +frown just above the black mask. + +"Perhaps,"--Phyllis threw a note of sorrow into her voice, and her eyes +looked up into his without a hint of laughter. + +"I never heard of such a thing," he said angrily, and something in the +way he said it brought back a sudden memory to Phyllis and made her +eyes dance. She lowered them quickly, for it was just possible that +Don's cousin might prove as clever as Don. + +The knight sat down beside her on the bench and rested his sword beside +him. + +"What's your name?" he asked presently. + +"You'd never believe it if I told you," Phyllis replied. + +"Well, tell me anyhow." + +"I am Queen Mab,"--Phyllis dropped her voice to a whisper--"but I am +masquerading as Pierrette, so you mustn't tell anybody." + +"Don't be silly," was the knight's ungallant reply. "I mean, who are +you really?" + +"See, I told you you wouldn't believe,"--Phyllis shrugged her shoulders +daintily. "I dare say you don't believe in fairies nor brownies +either," she ventured, watching him out of the corner of her eye. + +The words should have given the knight the hint he wanted, but he was +too cross to understand it just then. + +"Oh, very well," he said huffily, "if you won't tell me, you won't; but +don't expect me to tell you my name either." + +"I don't have to," Phyllis laughed gayly. "I know; it's Chuck." + +"Well I'll be darned,"--Sir Galahad stared at her in amazement. "Then +I know you?" + +"I didn't say so," Phyllis teased. + +He got up and stood facing her, his arms folded. + +"Come and get some lemonade," he commanded. "I am going to find out +who you are, never you fear, but I am going to do it in my own way." + +They walked to the little alcove where a maid in cap and apron was +busily serving the punch. Chuck kept his eyes fastened on his +companion as if he were determined to penetrate her mask and the saucy +hood that jingled as they walked. He did not look up until they were +at the table and when he did it was to find the monk and the donkey +with--he blinked, not his partner, for she was beside him, but surely +her double. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CHUCK GUESSES RIGHT + +Janet and Phyllis looked at each other and smiled. Janet's companions +were as astonished as Chuck. They looked at first one and then the +other of the girls, and then Howard whistled. + +"Golly," he exclaimed. It was not a word that fitted his costume but +it exactly suited his confused frame of mind. + +"I am seeing double or else I'm going crazy and I don't like the +feeling," he protested. "Somebody pinch me." + +Both John and Chuck took him at his word and complied heartily with his +request. The result was a loud but quickly suppressed "ouch" and a +backward lunge that almost upset the table with its precious burden of +lemonade. + +Chuck took Phyllis by the arm and almost shook her. + +"Then you weren't you; I mean her," he said none too clearly, "but you +let me think you were." + +"You mean I let you think I was I. Well, I couldn't very well help +it." Phyllis's tone was apologetic, but her eyes danced. + +Chuck looked appealingly at Janet. + +"You know what I mean," he said. + +"Of course, it's perfectly plain," Janet replied consolingly. "You +thought she was me while all the time she was she and me was me,"--the +hodge-podge of pronouns and their ungrammatical use was too much for +poor Chuck. He buried his head in his hands, the picture of despair. + +Phyllis took the opportunity of exchanging a nod and a sly wink with +Janet that she apparently understood, for without a second's hesitation +she slipped out of her place and Phyllis took it. + +"Well, anyhow you can dance,"--Chuck lifted his head and looked at +Janet. Howard and John promptly doubled over in a fit of laughter. + +"Oh, but I'm so sorry I can't," Janet said demurely. + +Chuck looked at Phyllis. "Then neither of you dance, I see," he said +slowly. + +"Why, I never said I couldn't," Phyllis protested, and Howard, who was +trying to recover his first fit of laughter by drinking a cup of punch, +choked and had to be severely thumped on the back by John. + +Chuck looked angry and puzzled for a minute and then he acknowledged +his defeat and laughed good naturedly. + +"One of you dances," he said with conviction. "Will she please do me +the honor of dancing this one step with me?" He looked at them both, +not at all sure which one would reply. + +"I'd love to," Phyllis said, laughing. + +He took her in his arms and away they whirled. Chuck, unlike most boys +of his age, liked to dance, and Phyllis was as light as the fairy she +claimed to be, so for a few minutes they did not speak, for they were +contented to glide over the waxed floor to the inspiring music. + +"I should say you could dance," Chuck said at last. "If your voice was +not entirely different I would say that you were Daphne Hillis." + +"Would you?"--Phyllis did her best to imitate Daphne's drawl, and she +succeeded so well that Chuck came to a full stop in the very middle of +the floor and stared at her. + +"Are you Daphne?" he demanded. + +Phyllis gave a little laugh and lowered her eyes, but she neither +admitted nor denied. + +Chuck started to dance again without saying another word, and presently +Phyllis stole a quick glance up at him. She found him staring at her +with a new look in his eyes. + +"You are not Daphne," he said with relief. "Taffy has green eyes and +yours are brown, red brown like autumn leaves." Phyllis gave a little +start, for the words were so like little Don's. + +"I'm glad you are not Taffy," Chuck went on. "I might have known you +weren't." + +"Why?" Phyllis could not help asking. + +"Oh, because Taffy and I are on the outs, and she wouldn't dance with +me for anything," he replied indifferently. + +"She might," was all Phyllis would say, her brain already busy with a +plan. + +"Too bad your twin doesn't dance," was Chuck's next remark, and for a +minute Phyllis lost step and almost stumbled. He had used the word +without thinking, never realizing how near the truth he was. + +"But do look," he exclaimed a second later, "she does; there she goes +with Jerry Dodd, and she dances beautifully too. Whatever made her say +she couldn't?" + +Phyllis was speechless with mirth, but she managed to nod to Daphne as +she sailed by, still with Jerry. + +The dance ended, it was the fifth of the evening, and the four girls +had all promised to leave their partners and return to the +dressing-room to compare notes when it was over. + +Phyllis found the others all there waiting for her, for it had been +difficult to find an excuse to satisfy Chuck. He made her promise to +meet him at the bench for the seventh dance before he would leave her +to keep his next dance with Muriel. + +"Oh, oh, oh, was there ever such a lark!" Sally exclaimed. "I have +danced with five different boys and not one of them guessed who I was, +and yet I know them all and have danced with them scores of times." + +"Have you been dancing with Jerry all evening?" Phyllis asked Daphne, +as Janet regaled Sally with a description of the scene by the punch +bowl. + +"What else can I do?" Daphne groaned. "He says he won't let me go +until he finds out who I am, and I simply won't tell him. I saw you +dancing with Chuck. How do you like him?" + +"Oh, ever so much," Phyllis replied, and then she laughed harder than +ever. + +Daphne demanded an explanation, and when Phyllis gave it, together with +her plan, she heartily agreed. + +"Then it's settled that we all meet at the bench just as the lights go +out before the gong rings to unmask," Sally said, as they started back +downstairs. The rest nodded, and at the door of the ballroom they +separated, each to her waiting partner, rather to a waiting partner. + +Sally joined Howard and John in the library, to continue Janet's +dancing lessons, and Janet hurried to the punch bowl to find a jolly +King Cole who had Sally's promise to sit out the dance with him and let +him guess who she was. + +Chuck, after leaving Muriel rather unceremoniously, rushed to the bench +beneath the palms, and Daphne greeted him with a smile of welcome. +Phyllis was claimed at once on her appearance by the persistent Jerry, +and they danced off, as Jerry firmly believed, taking up the threads of +their conversation exactly where he and Daphne had left off. + +The room was so large that it was surprisingly easy to keep out of one +another's way, and not one of the four boys realized that there were +more than two girls wearing the same kind of costume. + +The dance ended, and the girls lost themselves in the crowd, to appear +in person for their next dance, the boys none the wiser. Only John, +with his donkey's head very much awry, noticed a change as he watched +Howard Garth painstakingly teaching Sally the rest of the steps to the +fox trot. Janet had not thought of telling Sally that she was being +very nice to John; she hardly realized it herself; so Sally ignored him +as girls always ignored John, and he noticed it. It took Janet several +minutes to make him forget his grievance when she came back at the +ninth dance to have one more lesson. + +The tenth dance had hardly begun before the music slowed noticeably, +and the lights gradually grew dim, the room blurred, and the couples +came to a standstill as darkness descended over them. Four figures +hurried their protesting partners towards the bench under the palm. +They were all there by the time the gong sounded. + +Suddenly the lights blazed on again, and four very surprised boys +stared in bewilderment at the four girls before them. + +"Oh, now I know I'm crazy!" Howard exclaimed. "So don't bother to +pinch me," he added, as Chuck and John lifted their arms. + +Jerry Dodd looked reproachfully at Daphne and wagged his head. + +"It was you all the time," he said, "but how could a feller be expected +to know when you talked the fool way you did." + +"But, Jerry, are you sure you were dancing all the time with me?" +Daphne's drawl sounded pleasantly on all ears. + +"That I am," Jerry replied, with so much certainty that Phyllis and +Daphne shrieked with laughter. + +Grant Weeks, in spite of the dignity that his King Cole suit gave him, +looked very limp as he sat down on the bench. All he seemed to be able +to say was, + +"Sally Ladd--you--you--" The rest was lost in groans. + +Up until now Chuck had not spoken. He had stood looking at all the +girls in turn, and particularly at Phyllis and Janet. + +"What I want to know is, when did I dance with which?" he demanded so +seriously that the rest laughed with delight. + +"And who takes who to supper?" inquired Grant. "Sally, I may not have +danced with you, nor sat out in the conservatory and argued with you, +but I am going to take you in to supper, so come along." + +"I don't know whether I ought to go with a boy that doesn't know +whether he knows me or not," Sally laughed, "but I will just this once." + +Howard turned to Janet. + +"Did I or didn't I teach you to dance?" he demanded. + +"You did,"--Janet laughed. "That is, part of the time. Come on, John, +we'll all go down together. I'm awfully hungry." + +"I knew it," John said to himself, and he smiled even through his +donkey's mask. + +Phyllis and Daphne were left, and Chuck and Jerry looked at them +uneasily. + +"What are we going to do about it?" Jerry demanded. + +"Suit yourself,"--Chuck laughed. "I am going to take--" and here he +paused, for he suddenly remembered that he had never been introduced to +Phyllis and did not even know her name. + +"Daphne, introduce us," he begged. + +"But we've met already," Phyllis protested. "Have you forgotten?" + +"Oh, I don't mean that silly Queen Mab introduction," Chuck said. + +"Neither do I," Phyllis confused him still further by replying. + +Jerry took Daphne's arm and hurried her off. + +"Let's let them settle it themselves," he said over his shoulder. + +Chuck looked at Phyllis and smiled. + +"Please," he said coaxingly. But Phyllis shook her head. + +"Not unless you promise to believe in Don's brownies," she answered, +and as she spoke she pulled off her hood. + +Chuck looked at her and gasped. + +"Of course," he exclaimed, "you're the girl that brought Don home, and +I saw you one day when I was with Muriel and she told me you were one +of the Page twins and--" he stopped, and Phyllis guessed that the rest +of Muriel's remarks had not been any too sweet. + +"Well, take a good look at me," she teased, "for once I leave you, you +will never be able to tell me from Janet." + +"Oh, won't I?" Chuck replied. "I bet I will, and I'll prove it after +supper." + +His chance came a little later. Both girls stood before him, their +hoods thrown back and their eyes laughing up at him. + +"It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to Phyllis, "you are +Don's girl," he said. + +"Oh, Don told you the secret," Sally protested. + +"He did not," Chuck denied. + +"Close your eyes then and turn around," Janet directed. She and +Phyllis changed places, and when Sally called "ready," Chuck turned to +find them still before him but with their eyes tight shut. + +"Easy again," he said, and took Phyllis by the hand. + +The little group looked at each other in astonishment, for they had all +been baffled, and Daphne said, + +"Tell us how you did it?" + +"No, that's my secret," Chuck replied firmly; "mine and Don's, and I'll +never tell." + +And he kept his word, for not until many years later did the Page twins +learn the difference that he saw between them every time he looked at +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A BLUE MONDAY + +"Phyl, do come away from that window; you've been staring out into the +dark ever since dinner." Janet spoke from the depth of her favorite +chair where, as usual, she was ensconced with a book and Boru. Tonight +Sir Galahad was cuddled down on her shoulder as well, for his own +mistress was restless company. Boru eyed the interloper with open +disapproval. There was a truce of sorts between the two animals; a +truce not in any way to be confused with a peace. Boru's bared teeth +and Sir Galahad's arched back were constant signs that a state of war +existed between them. + +"What under the sun are you looking at?" Janet went on impatiently. +"You give me the fidgets." + +"Oh, read your book," Phyllis said without turning. "I'm only star +gazing." + +"Read? How under the sun can I, with Galahad and Boru making faces at +each other under my very nose. Come and take your cat, or I will dump +him on the floor; he's making Boru miserably jealous." + +Phyllis sighed and turned reluctantly from the window. + +"Poor old kittens, didn't his Aunt Jan love him? Well, it was too bad! +Come to his own mistress." She picked up the cat and held him in her +arms. Galahad purred contentedly and rubbed his silky ear against her +soft cheek. + +Unconsciously Phyllis returned to the window. There was a light in the +window of the house across the yard. It was the same window where only +a few days ago the caretaker had fitted the wire screen with so much +care. To-night the shade was down, but a shadow passed and repassed, +looming large and mysterious behind it. + +"What under the sun is he doing in that room?" Phyllis pondered, +encouraging the mysterious reasons that fitted through her head and +enlarging upon them. + +A prodigious sigh from Janet interrupted the most thrilling story of +all, and she gave up and returned to her place on the sofa. + +"Do you realize that just forty-eight hours ago we were having the time +of our lives?" Janet demanded. + +"It seems years ago to me," Phyllis replied. "What fun it was! I +don't think I ever had a better time at any party I ever went to." + +"Well, I never went to any other party,"--Janet laughed--"unless you'd +call the church fair at Old Chester a party, and I don't. I call it a +nightmare." She made a wry face as memories assailed her. + +"How about the tea party we gave at grandmother's?" Phyllis inquired. +"We had fun at that, wearing each other's dresses, do you remember?" + +"Of course, but I wouldn't call it a party,"--Janet frowned, trying to +think of a better word. "I think it was an experience," she said at +last. + +Phyllis laughed. "What makes you say that?" she asked. + +"Well, if you had heard the things those girls said about _me_ to _me_, +thinking I was you, why, you'd understand," Janet said, and she smiled +a little wistfully. + +"Jan," Phyllis asked suddenly, "tell me something honestly and truly. +Do you ever miss Old Chester?" + +Janet thought for a minute and then shook her head. + +"No, I honestly don't," she said slowly. "And I can't make myself, +somehow." + +"Do you try?" + +"Yes, sometimes." + +"But why?" + +"Because I think I ought to. It seems so thankless of me to go whole +days without even remembering there is such a place." + +Phyllis jumped up from the couch, tumbling Galahad to the floor and +threw her arms around her. + +"Oh, you darling!" she exclaimed. "I could hug you to death for saying +that. You're such a queer dick that sometimes I get scared to death +and think surely you are pining for the country, and then I want to die +of misery. You're so quiet and queer sometimes." + +Janet return her twin's hug with interest. + +"You want me to be like you," she laughed, "and I never will be. I +suppose I've been quiet so long that it is a habit. I just can't help +thinking long thoughts, I always have, you see, but, oh, Phyl, they're +all happy thoughts these days," [Transcriber's note: line missing from +book.] + +"And you don't miss a single person, ever?" Phyllis persisted. + +Janet hesitated; she wanted to be quite honest. + +"Well," she said at last, "I do miss Peter once in a while; that is, I +wish he were here to talk things over with, and sometimes when I read +something I like awfully much I sort of wish I could tell him about +it," she finished lamely. + +Phyllis nodded in perfect understanding. She knew that Peter Gibbs +held the same place in Janet's thoughts that her girl friends held in +hers. + +"I wish I had seen him," she mused. "It's so much more fun to talk +about a person you know than to have to imagine all about them. +Whatever possessed him to run away just before I came? I think it was +downright mean of him, and some day I'm going to tell him so." + +"Tell him Christmas vacation,"--Janet laughed. "He is going to be with +Mrs. Todd at the Enchanted Kingdom, and so we'll probably see him." + +"And so we will probably see him,"--mimicked Phyllis. "I guess there +won't be much doubt about that,"--she yawned, and as if in answer to +her thoughts the clock struck nine. + +"Let's go to bed; school to-morrow," she said sleepily. "Thank +goodness Christmas is not so very far away. I'm going to lie in bed +just as late as ever I want to, in Old Chester." + +Janet smiled to herself. She pictured Martha's shocked surprise at the +very idea of staying in bed just for the fun of it, but she did not +disillusionize Phyllis. + + +Monday morning is always a restless time at school, for the girls are +all too busy living over the events of the week end to settle down to +lessons, and this particular Monday, coming as it did just after +Muriel's party, made it even harder than ever. + +The four girls, Phyllis, Janet, Daphne and Sally, were the center of +attraction, for the rest had only heard in part the story of their +exchange of partners and they wanted it all. + +"I heard that Jerry Dodd was sick in bed all yesterday," Rosamond +teased. "He laughed so hard that he broke something in his side." + +"You mean he ate so much," drawled Daphne. "I told him if he insisted +upon eating the sixth chicken pattie he would be sorry, and now I hope +he is." + +The girls were all sitting on desks as near as they could get to Sally +and Janet. + +"Dancing school begins next week," Eleanor announced. "Who's going +this year?" + +"You and Janet are, aren't you?" Rosamond asked Phyllis. + +"I haven't asked Auntie Mogs yet, but I suppose we are," Phyllis +replied. "How about you, Daphne?" + +"Oh, yes, might as well." Daphne knew all there was to know about +dancing, but she did not consider that any reason for stopping. + +"We're going of course," Eleanor said, "and, Sally, of course you'll +come." + +But Sally shook her head. She had been unusually quiet, but none of +the girls had noticed it. Now they all looked at her in surprise. + +"Oh, but, Sally, why?" Rosamond demanded. + +"What's all this?" Madge Cannon stopped to join the group on her way +to senior row. "Sally not going to dancing school? Preposterous! It +won't be any fun without her. What's the trouble?" + +"Wouldn't be worth while," Sally said shortly. + +"Worth while! Sally Ladd, what are you talking about?" Phyllis +demanded. Something in the expression of Sally's eyes made her realize +that she was not joking. + +"I mean I won't be here after Christmas," Sally said in a dull level +tone, and she stared straight before her as she spoke. + +"Won't be here?"--the girls gazed at her in stupefied astonishment. + +"You don't really mean that you are going to boarding school?" Eleanor +demanded. "You said something about it at the beginning of school but +no one believed you." + +"Well, it's true," Sally said dismally. "Mother had a letter this +morning from the head of the school and it's all arranged." + +"Oh, Sally--" the girls were speechless, each tried to picture the loss +of Sally, first to herself, and then to the school; then they looked at +Phyllis and Janet and then at Daphne, and realized that their sorrow +could not be compared to theirs. One by one they slipped away, and the +four girls were left alone. + +"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, do say something," Sally said at last. +There were tears in her voice, and the girls were quick to notice them. + +"Oh, Sally, why didn't you tell us?" Phyllis asked. + +"Didn't get a chance," Sally replied; "and anyway I couldn't somehow." + +Janet put her hand over her friend's and squeezed it. There was +nothing to say. + +"It's--it's all wrong,"--there was more feeling in Daphne's voice than +her usual drawl permitted. + +The bell fell on their silence a minute later. + +It was not until the study hour was almost over that Phyllis realized +that Muriel had not come. Sally's news had completely swamped all +other thoughts. She put up the lid of her desk and under its cover +slipped a note back to Janet. She read it and passed it to Sally, who +shook her head and looked puzzled. + +"Hope she isn't sick," she whispered. + +Muriel did not arrive until study hour was over, and the girls were +chatting in the ten-minute interval. + +"Hello!" Phyllis greeted her as she slipped into her seat. One look at +her face made her add: + +"Why, what is the matter?" + +Muriel's eyes were red and swollen, and she looked as though she had +been crying for hours. Phyllis did not show as much concern as she +might have, for it was a well-known fact that Muriel cried very easily. + +At Phyllis's question, she buried her head in her arms and started to +sob. + +"Something terrible has happened," she managed to say. "I'm so nervous +I simply can't stop crying. I've been interviewed by policemen and +detectives all morning and I am frightened to death." + +Phyllis put her arm around her consolingly. + +"But what has happened, dear? Tell us," she begged. + +"Oh, it's too terrible for words!" Muriel was certainly prolonging the +agony. + +"What is?" Sally demanded sharply. + +"Chuck's little cousin has been kidnapped!" It was out, and Muriel +looked up long enough to judge the effect on her hearers and then fell +to sobbing again. + +Phyllis felt something in her throat contract. + +"Little Don?" she asked. + +"Yes, and, oh, dear, just because I'd seen him in the park yesterday I +had to answer all kinds of questions, and I'm all nervous and tired +out." + +The girls looked at the crumpled heap in disgust. It was like the +Muriel of this year to insist on being the central figure. + +They went back to their desks in thoughtful silence. + +Phyllis sat beside Muriel, quite unconscious of her tears; her hands +were clenched, and her eyes saw nothing but Don's impish little face. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MISS PRINGLE + +Chuck was waiting at the corner of the street when school closed that +afternoon, but it was not for Muriel that he watched. He wanted to +talk to Phyllis. He was desperately unhappy and he had to talk to some +one. Boys, even his best friends, were not sympathetic enough. Muriel +would be sure to blub; Chuck had seen her that morning. Daphne would +drawl and that would drive him crazy, so it was for Phyllis that he +waited, sure of her ready sympathy, for she had loved Don. + +Phyllis came down the steps with Janet and Sally and Daphne, but as +soon as she saw him she left the girls and hurried towards him. + +"Oh, Chuck, Muriel has told us about Don, and I want you to know how +terribly we all feel," she said sincerely. "Have you had any news?" + +"Only a letter for my uncle, telling him to go to some old house way up +in Bronxville and to bring a lot of money with him," Chuck replied. +"The police tell him not to go, but I think he will; you see the letter +says if he doesn't come that they will hurt Don." + +"Oh, how dreadful, how detestable!" Phyllis exclaimed. "How could any +one be so wicked, and to Don above all people!" Chuck looked at her +quickly. He expected to see tears in her eyes, but instead he saw +anger--flashing burning anger. + +"When does the letter tell him to be at the house?" she asked abruptly. + +"A week from to-day." + +"Why not sooner, I wonder." + +"Because they figure that the longer Uncle Don has to wait the readier +he'll be to give them what they want. As if he cares how much money it +is as long as he can get Don back again!" Chuck looked down the street +and tried to keep his eyes clear from the tears that had threatened to +flood them all morning. He too was seeing little Don's chubby face. + +"My mother is with Uncle Don now," he went on after a minute's pause, +"but there isn't much she can do or say. She's almost as heartbroken +as he is. It--it's pretty tough on the little chap," he ended with a +queer choke. + +As they turned the corner, the girls joined them, and added their +sympathy. But Chuck was in no mood to answer their questions, so with +an abrupt "s'long" he turned at the next street and left them. + +"Let's go up to the snuggery," Janet suggested. "I don't feel up to +much to-day." + +"Neither do I," Sally said. "I can't think of anything but Don, poor +little mite. I hope they are kind to him." + +"Oh, Sally, for pity's sake stop!" Phyllis spoke so sharply that the +girls turned to look at her: her eyes were still flashing but her lip +trembled. + +"I can't bear it," she added more softly. + +"Sorry," Sally said penitently, and they walked in silence until they +reached the house. + +"Auntie Mogs, we're all very unhappy," Janet began as they stopped to +greet Miss Carter in the hall. "Little Donald Keith has been +kidnapped. Muriel Grey cried all through school, and Sally is not +coming back after Christmas." + +It speaks well for Miss Carter's understanding of her two nieces that +she did not have to ask for a more concise statement but accepted +Janet's explanation in its entirety. + +"How very sad," she said at once. "Poor Mr. Keith must be almost +frantic, and Mrs. Vincent too. I wish there was something I could do, +though I know them so slightly. Sally dear, your mother told me this +morning that you were not going back to school after the holidays and I +am so very sorry. The girls will be desolate without you. How do you +do, Daphne. I am very glad you came home with the girls. I like to +see you four together. Go into the dining-room and have some luncheon +right away," she directed. "Perhaps that will make you feel better. +What are you going to do this afternoon?" + +"Nothing special," Janet replied. + +"Then I will ask a favor of you all,"--she followed them to the +dining-room and took her place at the head of the table. + +"We'll grant it before we hear it,"--Daphne's drawl sounded very soft +and musical. + +"Of course," Sally agreed. + +"What is it, Auntie Mogs?" Janet inquired. + +Miss Carter smiled delightedly. + +"That's very sweet of you, but wait until you hear what it is I want +you to do. This afternoon my class from the settlement is coming here +for tea after I have taken them to the Art Museum. There are ten of +them; all girls about your own age. I intended to give them chocolate +and cake, as it is so cold to-day, and Annie was going to serve it, but +this morning a telegram came saying her sister is very ill, so Annie is +leaving on the three o'clock train for Buffalo and that leaves only +Lucy. Will you do the waiting and serving for me?" + +"Why, of course, we'd love to," they all answered together. + +"I can make delicious hot chocolate," Sally announced, "so I might stay +in the kitchen and help Lucy." + +"And have first whack at the cakes; I think not," Daphne replied firmly. + +"Now, my Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was ever any one so misunderstood?" +Sally turned to Miss Carter for sympathy. + +"Never, my dear, I am sure Daphne's suspicions are unjust." Auntie +Mogs laughed. "But I must hurry away or I will be late and that's one +thing my children can't forgive. Poor darlings, they have so few +outings that they hate to waste a minute of their precious time." + +"Why don't you take them to the zoo?" Phyllis spoke for the first time, +her voice sounded very tired but she smiled. "They'd like it a heap +better than the museum." + +"No, dear, I think you're wrong. They are all very anxious to see the +pictures," Auntie Mogs replied, "but perhaps we'll stop in for a minute +to see your beautiful Akbar on our way home." + +She left them and hurried off, and again an unhappy silence fell upon +them as they finished their luncheon. + +"Let's go up to the snuggery," Janet suggested; "we don't have to help +Lucy for hours yet." + +They climbed the stairs, followed by Boru and Galahad, and finally +settled themselves comfortably in the little room. + +"Let's do our math," Sally suggested. "It's awfully hard. Taffy, you +can help us." + +They pulled out the table and were soon at work. Phyllis tried to keep +her mind on the problems before her, but her eyes wandered to the +window where she could see that the shade across the yard was still +pulled down. She welcomed Annie's interruption a few minutes later. + +"Please, miss," she said, "Lucy finds that there is no chocolate in the +house, so will you please telephone for some and tell them to bring it +over right away." + +"No, I'll go for it instead, Annie." Phyllis jumped up, glad of an +excuse to be alone. + +"Thank you, miss." Anne went downstairs, to assure Lucy that the +chocolate would surely be there on time. + +"Too bad," Janet said, looking up from her paper. "We'll all go with +you, Phyl." + +"Don't bother. The math is coming along so well with Taffy's help, +keep on with it. I won't be a second, and I don't mind going alone a +bit. I'll take Boru with me; he looks as though he wanted a run. How +about it, old fellow?" + +Boru wagged his tail, looked at Janet, and then followed Phyllis, +barking lustily. + +Once in the air with the stiff chill breeze in her face and Boru +frisking beside her, she threw off some of the depression that was +making the day horrible. The grocery was only a couple of blocks away, +and she soon had her package and was on her way home. + +As she turned the corner she found herself face to face with Miss +Pringle. She was carrying a heavy suit case. + +"Why, what are you doing in this neighborhood?" she asked, smiling. + +Miss Pringle stopped, started forward and stopped again. + +"Why--er--er--I--how do you do?" she stammered, so plainly ill at ease +that Phyllis looked at her in amazement. + +"We had a wonderful time at our masquerade," she said in an attempt to +make conversation. + +"Yes, yes, to be sure, dear me, good-by, young lady--I--" She was +indeed flustered, and Phyllis could hardly repress a smile, for Miss +Pringle's hat was well over one ear, and the dotted veil that should +have covered her face was whipping itself into ribbons off the back of +her head. + +"But you haven't told me what you are doing down here?" Phyllis +insisted. + +Miss Pringle looked really troubled. + +"I can't, indeed I can't, young lady," she almost cried. "I must go--I +must indeed." She hurried on, keeping to the inside of the street and +gazing about her furtively. + +"Now, what under the sun is old Pringle up to?" Phyllis mused. "I +never saw her so flustered. Well, come on, old man, let's take a +little walk before we go in. They'll never miss us, and you needn't +tell Galahad." + +Boru looked up and cocked one ear rakishly, as though he thoroughly +enjoyed the joke. + +"Here, sir." Ten minutes later Phyllis gave the command, and Boru +stopped running so suddenly that he almost tripped on his nose. + +Phyllis slipped her hand under his collar and pulled him behind the +high stoop that they were just passing. She had seen Miss Pringle +coming towards them almost a block away, and she had no desire for +another conversation with her. She watched her approach, wondering +where she was going, and hoping that she would enter some house before +she reached their hidingplace. + +Miss Pringle was still walking close to the houses and seemed to be in +a terrible hurry. Her hat bobbed more than ever, and the short coat +she wore bulged out in the wind, making her indeed a comical figure. + +When she reached a house that was boarded up, she paused and looked +quickly behind her. It looked as though she were alone on the street. +Phyllis watched her, interested in spite of herself, and saw her bob +down and disappear into an area way. + +"Of course," she said to Boru, as she loosed him from her hold, "I +might have known where she was going. The Blaines' caretaker must be a +relation of hers. I saw him at her house that day. She must be going +to stay with him. But why under the sun was she so mysterious about +it, I wonder? And why doesn't she stay in the basement instead of +occupying Miss Amy's dressing-room, and why the screen?" + +Still very much puzzled, she walked home. The immediate preparations +for the tea party occupied her for the remainder of the afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A WHITE MITTEN + +Days passed, and still no news of little Don. Chuck now made it a +habit to wait for Phyllis and walk home with her and Janet. + +Each day the greeting was the same. + +"Any news?" and always Chuck shook his head and answered, "Not yet." + +Friday morning Janet woke up with a sore throat and a headache, and +Miss Carter kept her home. Phyllis went to school as usual, and in the +afternoon Chuck met her. + +"The week's almost up," he said after the usual question had been asked +and answered, "and Uncle Don is determined to go on Monday with the +money. He's had a letter since the first, you know, telling him to +double the sum." + +"Will they have Don there at the house waiting for him?" Phyllis +inquired. + +"No, indeed. There's not a word about that. The detectives say that +they will probably try to take the money by force; perhaps knock Uncle +Don senseless. They don't want him to go, but they have to admit that +they haven't a single clew." + +"Oh, Chuck, isn't it hateful not to be able to do a single thing to +help?" Phyllis's voice rang with real emotion. + +"You bet," Chuck agreed. "I lie awake at night thinking all kinds of +things and planning what I'd do if I ever caught those brutes, but that +doesn't do much good. I wish Uncle Don would let me go with him on +Monday. I'd take a gun along and do a little holding up on my own +hook."' + +"But that would only make things worse; they'd be sure to do something +awful to Don then," Phyllis reasoned. + +"Suppose so," Chuck was forced to admit. "I don't suppose I'll see you +to-morrow, will I?" he added. + +"Why not?" Phyllis inquired. "Come over to the house in the afternoon +and we can go for a walk." + +Chuck looked at her gratefully. "Thanks, guess I will; I'll be over +about two." He lifted his cap as they reached the steps of the house +and turned to go. "Tell Janet I'm sorry she is sick," he called back, +and Phyllis nodded as Annie opened the door. + +She found Janet up and dressed, but playing the invalid up in the +snuggery. + +"Any news?" she called, as she heard Phyllis's step on the stairs. + +"Not yet, and the week's almost up," Phyllis replied sadly. + +"Did you walk home with Chuck?" + +"Yes, and he said he was very sorry you were sick and he sent you his +love." + +"Thanks, but what are they going to do?" + +Phyllis gave a little shudder. + +"Don't use that awful word '_they_,'" she said. "It always means the +kidnappers to me, and somehow or other every time I hear it I seem to +see bandits with gold ear-rings and red handkerchiefs tied round their +heads, and they are always doing something horrible to little Don." + +"I know," Janet agreed sympathetically, "only I don't think of _they_ +as that kind of bandit. I wish I did. It wouldn't be half so hard to +find them and have a real old fight, but these creatures that have +stolen Don are men and they look just like everybody else." + +"Except inside," Phyllis added. + +"Of course, but their insides don't help. We can't see anything but +their everyday outside looks," Janet reminded her. + +Phyllis was thoughtful for a little, then she said slowly, "I'm sure I +don't know why I should feel so terribly about it; worse than the rest +of you, I mean, but somehow I do. Don was such a darling that day that +I met him in the park, and I've sort of loved him ever since, and now +to think that he's shut up somewhere and can't get out, and that +perhaps he's being badly treated and starved. Oh, Jan, I just can't +bear it, and if I feel like this just imagine his poor father!" + +"But surely they--the detectives--will find him,"--Janet tried to +console; "and anyhow Monday something is bound to happen." + +"Yes, and worrying won't help, and it's unkind to you, poor +darling,"--Phyllis smiled with determination. "How is the throat, and +the head by this time?" + +"Oh, loads better. I feel perfectly well; but it's such fun being an +invalid. I told Annie to bring luncheon up here. Auntie Mogs is out +and I waited for you." + +"Angel, you must be starved to death, but here comes Annie now. I can +hear her venerable boots creaking up the stairs." + +Annie appeared with a tray, and Phyllis busied herself putting the +table where Janet could reach it comfortably. + +"Filet of sole and that nice sauce that Lucy knows I love; how nice." +She sat down opposite Janet, and for the time being gave herself up to +cheering her. + +"Sally and Daphne are coming over to-morrow morning. They both sent +their love and everybody was so, so sorry you were sick. I had to +answer questions all morning. Even old Ducky Lucky said she hoped +you'd be better, though I really think she has grave doubts as to +whether I was not masquerading as you." + +Janet laughed. + +"I never thought I could miss school so much," she said, "but it has +seemed ages since you left. Auntie Mogs has been an angel; she read to +me all morning and only went out because I simply made her." + +The afternoon wore on slowly. Phyllis did not go out, but insisted on +reading aloud to Janet. + +In the middle of the afternoon the room grew stuffy, and she went to +open the window. Of chance she looked down on the roof below her and +just across the yard. Something white caught her eye. + +[Illustration: Something white caught her eye] + +"Jan, come here a second," she said breathlessly, and Janet hurried to +her side. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"Look down there," Phyllis pointed. "What do you see?" + +Janet looked. "Why, it seems to be a white mitten," she said. + +Phyllis faced her squarely, her breath was coming in short little +gasps. For a second Janet did not understand, then the bond of +understanding that so closely bound them, as twins, together made her +see what was going on in Phyllis's mind. + +"Don?" she asked quietly. + +Phyllis nodded and stared harder at the tiny mitten, and her thoughts +raced. For Janet's benefit she voiced them. + +"The wire screen, first, then Don talking to the caretaker." + +"When?" Janet interrupted. + +"The day we went in Taffy's car up to Miss Pringle's. Then I saw him. +As we left he went in. Then last Monday, remember, I told you I saw +Miss Pringle go in that house?" + +"Yes, you described her hat and the funny way she acted." + +"And now there's a baby's mitten under the window. Of course it +doesn't prove anything but--" Phyllis broke off abruptly and went out +of the room. When she returned she had a pair of field glasses with +her and she looked at the roof through them. + +"There's a blue band on the edge of it," she said, handing the glasses +to Janet. "Look, and don't leave the window until I get back," she +directed. + +She hurried to the telephone and got the Vincents' house on the wire +and asked to speak to Chuck. His voice answered her after a little +wait. + +"Chuck, this is Phyllis Page speaking," she said. "I don't want to +give you any false hopes, but something queer has happened. I've found +a little white mitten, and I think it belongs to Don. No, don't ask +questions. I haven't time to answer them. Just find out from Don's +nurse what his mittens were like and then come straight over here, and +be sure not to say anything to your mother or your uncle, for I may be +all wrong." + +She hung up the receiver before Chuck could reply and hurried back to +the snuggery. Janet was still looking out of the window as though she +feared the mitten might fly away if she took her eyes from it. + +They waited until the door bell announced Chuck's arrival. Phyllis +flew down the stairs to meet him. + +"Here," he said, by way of greeting and he handed her a white mitten. + +Phyllis took it eagerly; it had a blue border, and it was handmade +after a pattern of long ago. + +"Nannie always makes them," Chuck explained. "Where's the one you +found?" + +"Come up here and I'll show you." + +Janet gave the glasses to Chuck as soon as he entered the snuggery and +Phyllis pointed to the roof below and using as few words as she +possibly could she explained about the caretaker and Miss Pringle. + +"I've got to get that mitten," Chuck announced. "Is there a window +below this to your roof?" + +"Yes, from the butler's pantry," Phyllis told him. "You could crawl +along the fence to that roof easily. It's only a little way." + +"Then I'll do it now," Chuck decided. + +"Oh, but you mustn't," Phyllis protested. "If any one saw you from one +of the windows they'd know what you were doing and then all sorts of +awful things might happen." + +Chuck reluctantly agreed, and they all thought hard for the next few +minutes. + +"I think I have it," Phyllis said at last. "There are only two people +in the house that we know of, the caretaker and Miss Pringle. Now if +some one rang the bell when the caretaker was out, Miss Pringle would +have to come to the door. That would leave the coast clear for you." + +"Go on," Chuck prompted. + +"There's nothing else," Phyllis answered. "We will just have to wait +until the caretaker goes out." + +Chuck groaned at the thought of time wasted. + +"When's that likely to be?" he demanded. + +"About sunset. He takes care of some of the furnaces in the +neighborhood, so he'll be gone for quite a while," Phyllis told him. + +"I'll go and watch at the corner," Chuck decided. + +"What are you going to do if you find the mitten is Don's?" the +practical Janet asked, and Phyllis and Chuck looked at each other. + +"Notify the police," Chuck said at last, but Janet shook her head. + +"It might be too late. Miss Pringle's sure to be suspicious if Phyllis +rings the bell and then has nothing to say, and she may take Don away." +She spoke as though the mitten had already been identified. + +"I'll tell you," said Phyllis. "Chuck, you watch at the corner, and +when you see the caretaker go you come back and go over the roof. I'll +ring the bell then and I'll talk my head off to Miss Pringle. If the +mitten is Don's, you climb up to the window. We've a ladder in the +cellar." + +"And I can take it across the yard and help you haul it up," Janet +announced. "It's not a bit heavy." + +"Go on," Chuck said again. + +"You go into the room and get Don and--" Phyllis paused; the window +seemed at a dizzy height now that she thought of it as a descent for +Don. + +"I'll take him downstairs and straight out the front door," Chuck +exclaimed. "I'd like to see a dozen Miss Pringles stop me." + +Phyllis looked at him and decided that it would indeed take more than +the weak flutterings of the old costume-maker to stop him. + +He hurried down the stairs, and they heard the door slam behind him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DON! + +"We'd better get the ladder," Janet suggested. + +They went down into the cellar and found it close by the door. It was +only a matter of minutes before they had it waiting in readiness in the +yard. Luckily Annie and Lucy were too busy preparing supper to notice +them. + +They were back in the house just in time to meet Chuck. + +"He's gone," he announced, "and there was another man with him, and I +heard him say he was due down town by five o'clock." + +"Are you sure he was the caretaker?" Phyllis inquired, and Chuck gave a +satisfactory description. + +"Then I'm off," she said as she hurried into her coat. "Give me time +to get there before you start." + +She hurried to the house on the next street and rang the bell +violently, and waited; then she rang it again, three short rings. + +"Perhaps I can make her think it's a telegram," she thought, and her +scheme was rewarded, for after a little wait she heard some one +scuffling downstairs. The door creaked as the bolt was drawn back, and +then it opened a crack. + +"What do you want?" Miss Pringle's voice quavered as she asked. +Phyllis put her foot in the crack as she had seen villains do in the +movies. + +"Why, I just came around to see you for a minute, Miss Pringle," she +said sweetly. "I saw you come in here the other day, so I knew where +to find you and so to-day when the girls were wondering what had become +of you I told them I knew and they asked me if I would come and see you +and ask you if you would make the costumes for our Christmas play. +It's to be a queer sort of play, and we want very original costumes, +and, of course, you are the only person in the world that can advise +us." Poor Phyllis was forced to pause for breath, but Miss Pringle had +only time to whisper a flurried, "Oh, no young lady," before she was +off again. + +"The play is all about India and the heroine--Daphne Hillis is to take +the part--is a little slave, but of course she turns out to be the +queen in the end, and Madge Cannon is to be the prince, and the +important parts will be filled by the seniors and juniors. Just a few +of our class are to be in it, but I'm one of them and so is my twin. +We look so alike that we are to be pages, you know, and,--" a sound on +the stairs made her heart stand still but she went bravely on--"I never +told you what a lark we had at our masquerade, did I? It was really a +perfect circus, everybody mixed us up,"--Miss Pringle attempted to say +something, and Phyllis interpreted it her own way. + +"But of course you're more interested in the play, as you say. Well +there have to be ever so many costumes. Daphne alone has three, one +when she is the slave and another for the queen, and the third when the +king condemns her to be beheaded. It's so sad, you know. He says 'Off +with her head' and then Daphne lays her beautiful head on the block and +the executioner lifts his terrible sword and--" she stopped. + +Daphne's fair head was saved by the timely arrival of Chuck, carrying +the sleeping Don. + +Miss Pringle gave a scream of terror and tried to shut the door, but +Phyllis's foot made that impossible. + +"Out of my way," Chuck commanded in a voice so strong that, coming as +it did on top of Phyllis's description of swords and executioners, poor +Miss Pringle lost all the little presence of mind she had. She fell +back limply, and Chuck gained the street. + +Phyllis took her foot out of the door and closed it gently on the limp +figure. + +"Give him to me," she begged, as she caught up with Chuck. + +"He's too heavy, but look at him all you want to; it's really Don, +Phyllis, and you found him." Tears were running down Chuck's face, but +he didn't even know it. + +Phyllis took one of the little hands that hung limply across his +shoulder and kissed it gently. + +At the corner they found Janet, and a big burly policeman who was just +hanging up the receiver of a police 'phone attached to the telegraph +pole. + +"So you've found the little man, glory be!" he exclaimed. "It will be +a pill for the force to swallow, but they deserve it! To think I have +passed that house every day and never suspected. Well, I'll be after +making up for lost time now by watching it like a cat until his nibs +comes home and then off he'll go!" + +"And the woman?" Phyllis inquired. + +"Sure, she'll go with him to keep him company,"--the policeman grinned +at what he really considered fine wit, tightened his belt importantly +and grasping his night stick more firmly he walked down the street and +stopped in a business like way before Miss Pringle's door. + +The girls escorted Chuck back to the house. Auntie Mogs had returned +during their absence and met them at the door. + +"Children, where have you been? I have been so worried--" She stopped +abruptly, as her eye fell on Chuck and his precious armful. + +"Not little Don?" she asked excitedly. + +"Yes, Auntie Mogs, we've found him." Phyllis's explanation tumbled out +in hysterical phrases, the other two adding their own version, and in +the midst of it Don woke up. + +"I want to go home," he said sleepily and then, seeing Chuck, he opened +his blue eyes wide in wonder. + +"Give him to me," commanded Auntie Mogg, and she hugged him tight in +her arms as she comforted and petted him. + +Chuck, almost too excited for speech, called up his mother on the +'phone. + +"Come straight over to Miss Carter's and bring Uncle Don with you," he +said excitedly. "We have news for you, wonderful news." + +He left the 'phone, grinning. + +"I guess Mother had her hat on before she hung up the receiver,"--he +laughed. "She didn't even wait to say good-by." + +"No wonder," Auntie Mogs said, her lips brushing Don's gold hair. + +"I want my daddy," Don announced. "I want to tell him lots of fings +about that bad mans and that silly old woman who said she was my nurse. +I told her she was not any such fing 'cause Nannie's my nurse, isn't +she?" + +"Of course she is, darling," Miss Carter assured him. + +Don looked about him and smiled suddenly at Phyllis. + +"You're my girl," he said, dimpling, "and that's your twin." + +Phyllis was on her knees beside him in a minute, and he rumpled her +hair contentedly until Annie ushered in Mrs. Vincent and Mr. Keith, all +out of breath. + +"Chuck, what is it?" Mrs. Vincent asked eagerly. + +For answer Miss Carter put Don into her arms. + +The next few minutes were taken up by repeated explanations, while Don, +held tight by his father's big hand, helped out by many illuminating +bits of information about "ve bad mans and the silly woman." + +"And I have you to thank, my dear." Mr. Keith held out his hand to +Janet as they rose to go. + +Chuck laughed, "Wrong guess, Uncle. This is the one," and he pointed +to Phyllis. + +Mr. Keith laughed, and took Phyllis's hand and gave it a mighty squeeze. + +"Some day I will thank you for what you have done for me," he said +huskily, "all of you. You have made me the happiest man in the world." + +Mrs. Vincent kissed both the girls, and there was a glint of tears in +her soft gray eyes as she shook hands with Miss Carter. + +Chuck was the only one who was quite master of himself. He nodded, as +befitted a hero, to them all, until he came to Phyllis. + +"S'long," he said, taking her hand. "I'll see you to-morrow at two." + +"So will I," Don's baby voice called from the depth of his father's +shoulder; "and every day after that as long as I ever live," he added +stoutly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +CHRISTMAS VACATION + +After Don's discovery, things settled down into their normal course, +and the days followed one another in a monotonous row. Weeks passed, +and with the first really cold snap came the Christmas holidays. + +Miss Carter and the two girls started on a Friday afternoon for Old +Chester. There was only one cloud on their happy day and that had been +the last good-bys to Sally, who, with Daphne, had come down to the +station to see them off. + +"I simply refuse to think of school without her," Phyllis said, as the +train pulled out of the tunnel and roared through the northern end of +the city. + +"Not only school," sighed Janet, "but afternoons and Sundays. No more +skating parties at the rink, no more walks in the park, and no more +Saturday evenings at the movies, with Sally to make us laugh at the +wrong places." + +"Oh, come, children, it's not as bad as that," Miss Carter protested. +"Sally will be home for the Easter holidays, and June isn't so very far +away." + +"But we are going to Tom's in June," Phyllis reminded her. + +"And when we come back Sally will be going back to that hateful old +school again," Janet added tragically. + +"Oh, dear, dear, dear," laughed Auntie Mogs; "it's a very black world, +isn't it? I wonder, if I told you a secret, if you would cheer up and +see the sun shining once more?" + +"What is it?"--the girls leaned forward eagerly; they had caught the +note of mystery in their aunt's voice. + +"Well," said Auntie Mogs very solemnly, "it's only the beginning of a +secret, so you mustn't take it too seriously; but, just for fun, +suppose that next year Sally didn't go back to school alone; suppose +the Page twins went with her." + +"Auntie Mogs!" Phyllis and Janet exclaimed so loudly that several +people in the parlor car turned to look at them, and one old gentleman +winked above his open paper. + +"I only said suppose," Auntie Mogs reminded them, and she picked up her +paper with the most casual air in the world and began to read. + +It is not difficult to imagine what the topic of conversation was +during the rest of the trip. In fact, they were still talking about it +as they drew in to the station. + +"I hope I see somebody I know!" Janet exclaimed, as they followed the +porter with their bags; "but I don't suppose I will. It's exciting, +just the same; I feel as if I were dreaming," and she sighed happily. + +Dreaming or not, it is certain that she was totally unprepared for the +sight that awaited her on the little platform. All Old Chester seemed +to be waiting to welcome her, and she stood looking at them in a daze. + +The Blake girls and their mother were almost under her feet as she +stepped from the train, and Martha was just behind them. Harry +Waters's grin of welcome seemed a thing apart from his freckled face as +he took the bags away from the porter, his mother directing him fussily +the while. And off, a little to one side, stood Mrs. Todd, tall and +mannish as ever, but smiling her heartfelt welcome. + +There was a hub-bub of greetings that lasted for several minutes, then +Mrs. Todd took command of affairs in her usual masterly way. + +"Come along, Moggie, and call those children or we'll never get home. +My carriage is waiting just around the corner; the horses don't like +the train, sensible beasts, so Peter had to hold them. I suppose he's +died of impatience by now though," she added, smiling. + +"Go with Mrs. Todd, dearie," Martha directed as she had always done. +"I am going home with Tim and the trunks, and I'll be there before you." + +"All right," Janet agreed, smiling. It did seem good to hear her old +nurse's orders again. "Come on, Phyl," she called. + +Phyllis nodded good-by to the Blake girls and joined her. + +"If Sally were here she would call on Aunt Jane's poll parrot to +witness the mob,"--she laughed. "Aren't you proud, Jan?" + +"Not a bit. Why should I be? They came to welcome you just as much as +they did me." + +They joined their aunt and Mrs. Todd and walked to the back of the +station, where Harry, with Peter's aid, was stowing away the bags. + +Janet could hardly believe her eyes, for it was a changed Peter indeed. +Gone were the faded blue overalls and the torn straw hat; a +well-fitting overcoat and a cap took their place, but they did not +succeed in hiding the mop of hair or the merry blue eyes. + +"Hello, fairy princess," he greeted and then stopped, confused, as both +girls smiled up at him. + +"Well, which are you?" he demanded, and Janet held her breath. Would +he, or wouldn't he know her? + +A clear, jolly laugh reassured her. + +"You had me guessing for a minute, but now I know." He took Janet's +hand and wrung it. "It's great to see you again," he said, still +smiling. + +Janet introduced Phyllis and Miss Carter, and they all got into the +carriage. + +"Come and see us to-morrow, Harry," Janet called, as they drove off. + +"Morning, you betcha," Harry answered, waving his hat. + +"Child, don't make too many plans," Mrs. Todd warned. "Peter and I +have filled up as much of your time as we dared." + +"And we dared an awful lot," Peter added, laughing. "Fact is, I don't +think we left you more than a few minutes a day." + +"Oh, tell us what we have to do?" Janet begged. + +"One thing at a time," Peter replied gravely. "In case you forget, +to-morrow, if your Royal Highness so pleases, you are to take lunch +with us and inspect your domain. You will find many changes, but I +think you will approve of them all." + +"Not the Enchanted Kingdom?" Janet protested. + +"No, that is almost exactly as you left it," Peter assured her. + +"Oh, Jan, I can see the house," Phyllis called, as they left the tiny +village behind them, and Janet's heart beat so fast as she recognized +the two big chimneys that looked, in the twilight, as though they were +swinging the widow's walk between them, that she thought she would +surely suffocate. + +Peter drew up to the old carriage block with a flourish, and they all +jumped out. Martha was standing in the doorway to welcome them again. +They said good night to Mrs. Todd and Peter, and promised to be ready +when the carriage called for them the next day. + +Janet walked up the garden path holding tight to Phyllis's hand, as +though she feared to wake up. Everything in the house was exactly as +she had left it. The old grandfather clock ticked out its steady song, +and the polished table reflected the shining candlesticks as of old. + +Janet looked at her grandmother's door half fearfully. + +"Go upstairs and take off your wraps," Martha was saying, "and then +come down. Your grandmother wants to see you before dinner." + +Janet still held Phyllis's hand, as a few minutes later she knocked at +that closed door. + +Mrs. Page proped herself up on her elbow and surveyed her two +granddaughters; her small bright eyes seemed more restless than ever. +They roved all over the room. + +"Well, what have you got to say?" she demanded in the old querulous +tone. + +"How are you, Grandmother?" Janet spoke first, and she laid her hand +timidly on the withered one that lay on the white counterpane. + +"Hello, Grandmother; it's awfully nice to see you again. How are you?" +Phyllis, undaunted as always, leaned and kissed the withered cheek. + +Mrs. Page laughed, a hard cackling laugh. + +"You're as alike as two peas," she said, "but there's a mighty +difference. Janet, you haven't changed much," she added. + +"Oh, but I have," Janet insisted, forgetting her self-consciousness for +the moment. + +"Well, you don't show it," her grandmother snapped, and before Janet +could stop she heard herself saying, "Yes, Grandmother," in the +patient, respectful voice she had always used. + +"How do you like us dressed alike?" Phyllis inquired cheerfully. + +"Your hair's mussy," Mrs. Page replied shortly. "Why don't you braid +it?" + +"Oh, but it's so much more becoming this way," laughed Phyllis. + +"Fiddlesticks!" The word seemed to terminate the interview, for after +it was uttered Mrs. Page turned over, her face to the wall. + +"Good night, Grandmother," Janet said softly, but Phyllis lingered long +enough to ask, + +"Are you quite comfy, dear? Sha'n't I push this pillow so?" she won a +grudging "good night" for her pains. + +After supper the girls went up to the widow's walk. It was a cold, +clear night, myriad stars winked down at them from the ice-blue sky, +below them the water lapped the beach incessantly, and the foam +sparkled in the starshine. + +The girls watched it in silence for a minute, and then Phyllis said, + +"Tell me something, Jan; does New York seem like a dream now that +you're back or does Old Chester?" + +"Old Chester does," Janet replied after a little; "it all seems as +though my life here was a million years ago, instead of three short +months. I wonder why?" + +"Because you're happier in New York, my angel child," Phyllis declared +happily. "And now let's go down again. I love your widow's walk, but +I am frozen to death." + +They went down together and found Auntie Mogs sitting before the fire +in the living-room, roasting chestnuts, while Martha stood in the +doorway and offered suggestions and gossip. + +It was late before they went to bed, but when Janet finally fell asleep +she was still holding Phyllis's hand in her firm grasp. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM + +"If the ice didn't choke up the inlet I would row you over to your +kingdom, Princess," Peter said the next morning, as Janet took her +place beside him in the carriage. "It would seem ever so much more +like old times, wouldn't it?" + +Janet nodded and laughed. + +"Indeed it would. I wonder where my old row-boat is. I left it on the +beach." + +"And I found it there, very much the worse for wear, and in sad need of +a home," Peter continued for her. "So I towed it over to our landing, +and now it is high and dry on the rafters in the barn, along with my +canoe." + +"Oh, Peter, do you remember the day you taught me to paddle?" Janet +asked, laughing. + +"I certainly do. I wasn't perfectly sure that we would ever get home +again; that storm came up so suddenly." + +"But we did, just in time to be arrested." They both laughed so hard +at the memory of that never-to-be-forgotten day that Phyllis, in the +back seat with Auntie Mogs, called, + +"What are you two roaring over?" + +"Oh, something funny that happened last summer," Janet replied. + +"Haven't you ever told your sister about it?" Peter inquired, and Janet +shook her head. + +"Then I'll tell you, Phyllis," Peter promised; "but I'll wait until we +are on the scene of action." + +"There are a lot of things I want to ask you,"--Phyllis laughed, "and a +lot of places I want to see. Jan's no good at telling stories, she +leaves out all the most interesting part." + +"Well, you shall have a true and minute description from me, never +fear," Peter told her. + +"Let me drive," Janet begged a minute later, and Peter changed places +with her, and for the rest of the drive he talked to Phyllis and Auntie +Mogs, for Janet was too taken up with the spirited team to have any +time for conversation. + +The Enchanted Kingdom presented a strangely orderly view. The road was +trim and the gravel raked smoothly. The barns and outhouses were +painted white, and they looked surprisingly clean against the gray sky. +The house itself had lost all its rakish and forlorn look, though it +retained, in spite of paint, its inviting air of mystery. + +Gone were the dilapidated boards that had barred the windows, and white +curtains fluttered in their stead. Green box-trees guarded each side +of the white door, whose brass knocker shone in proof of the care +lavished upon it. + +"Well, what does the Princess think about it?" Peter demanded, +delighted at Janet's look of surprise. + +"I'd never have recognized it," she confessed. "What a lot you have +done to it!" + +"Come and see the inside. That's the best of all," Peter told her. + +Mrs. Todd welcomed them from the doorway, and the tour of inspection +began at once, for Janet would not hear of taking off her hat and coat +until she had seen everything. + +"All right; we'll leave the kingdom till the last," Peter said, as he +followed Mrs. Todd from room to room. + +Beautiful old furniture stood where Janet remembered the sheeted ghosts +that had frightened her so many times. Gay chintz curtains vied with +the copper and brass to liven the rooms that had always been shrouded +in darkness. Upstairs the bedrooms were a happy combination of rag +rugs and wonderful big beds, some of them so high that steps were +necessary. + +Peter had a den adjoining his room, and it was filled with his pet +books and pictures. He exhibited it with pride, and Janet saw him slip +his arm around Mrs. Todd and give her a hug when he thought no one was +looking. + +At last only the Enchanted Kingdom remained, and when Janet entered it +she found herself alone. Perhaps it was just as well--the sight of the +old rows of books, the table and the window-seat where she had spent so +many happy hours sent tears to her eyes, and she had to blink hard to +keep them from falling. + +She sat on the floor, scorning the comfy chairs, and pulled out book +after book; each one was in its same place, and she patted them all as +though they were alive. + +After a long time Peter came in to find her. Mrs. Todd had sent him to +tell her that luncheon was ready, but when he found her sitting on the +floor, he forgot his message and dropped down beside her. + +They were both very late for luncheon. + +So many things filled the days that followed that a whole volume would +be required to chronicle them. Janet and Phyllis liked the day before +Christmas best of all. + +Things began early in the morning. + +"Get up, lazy bones!" Janet shook Phyllis, deaf to her protests. "You +can't lie in bed this morning," she admonished. + +Phyllis sat up and opened two sleepy eyes and yawned, then, memory +asserting itself, she jumped out of bed with one spring. + +"Of course I can't," she cried. "We have to go and get the Christmas +tree. I was forgetting." + +"Look out of the window," Janet directed. + +Phyllis looked. The ground was covered with snow, and the world, as +far as she could see anyway, was decked in its Yuletide white. + +They hurried with their dressing and, much to Martha's concern, with +their breakfasts as well. + +"Here they come!" Phyllis cried, "and, oh, Jan, they are in a sleigh. +I can hear the bells." + +"Oh, I hoped the snow would be deep enough!" Janet exclaimed; "and it +must be. Three cheers for old Jack Frost!" + +They answered Peter's whistle by appearing at the door, and he and Jack +Belding jumped down from the sleigh to greet them. Jack Belding was a +school friend of Peter's. He had come to Old Chester several days +before. He was a tall, lanky youth with nondescript hair and eyes, but +a sense of humor that would have assured him a welcome in any company. + +Phyllis and Janet had liked him at once, much to Peter's relief and his +own secret satisfaction. He always addressed them as, "You, Janet, or +you, Phyllis," and then shut his eyes until the right one came, for he +could not tell the one from the other. + +"Was there ever such a day?" Phyllis demanded as she jumped on to the +big sleigh with Peter's help. + +"Never in all this world," he replied seriously. + +They started off at a smart gait, stopping at the rectory for Alice and +Mildred Blake and at the Waters' for Harry. Then away they went along +an old back road that wound up into the hills. + +When they stopped they were all glad to get out and stretch. The girls +walked up and down to get warm, and the boys made short work of +chopping down a tall bushy Christmas tree. + +The ride back was exciting, for they had to hold the slippery tree on +the sleigh and stay on themselves. As Janet was driving at top speed +this was not easy, but they reached the little church at last and +carried the tree triumphantly into the Sunday-school room. + +Then they flocked into the rectory for luncheon. Janet and Peter +dropped behind. + +"What does it make you think of?" Peter asked, laughing. + +"Don't," Janet pleaded; "it's still too awful to remember. If I +thought to-night was going to be anything like _that_ night I would go +straight home and go to bed." + +"Don't you worry. It won't, Princess," Peter replied protectingly. + +After luncheon the fun began. They all set to and trimmed the tree, +Phyllis, by common consent, was master of ceremonies, and they all +hurried to do her bidding. + +"Jack, if you eat _all_ the popcorn strings I don't see what we shall +have left for the tree," she complained once. + +"Sorry," Jack apologized, "but that's one failing I have; in fact, I +might add that it is the only one, without fear of boasting. Put me +near a string of popcorn and I just naturally find myself eating it, +and the funny thing is I don't like it unless it is strung." He spoke +with such gravity that the rest shouted with laughter. + +"Very well," said Phyllis, "we will put you beyond temptation's way. +Go out and bring me back a whole lot of boughs. I want them for the +chancel." + +"Do you mean it?" + +"I do." + +"Very well, but if I am frozen I hope you have the grace to be ashamed +of your heartlessness." + +"Oh, I promise I'll be terribly ashamed," Phyllis called after him, as +he walked dejectedly from the room. + +When the tree was finished, and the church had been decked with boughs +and holly, they all went home for a well-merited rest. The crown-event +of the day was still before them. + +A party at the Enchanted Kingdom to which all the countryside had been +bidden. + +And it was a party indeed! + +Nothing could have been so totally different from Muriel's masquerade, +yet it rivaled it in fun. Phyllis and Janet wore dresses exactly +alike, and had the joy of playing their old tricks on a new company. + +They danced and played games until twelve o'clock, and then Peter and +Jack took them home in the sleigh. + +On Christmas Day they went again to Mrs. Todd's and found all their +gifts piled up under their little tree. Auntie Mogs had sent over even +the New York presents and the ones from Tom. + +One little box for Phyllis was the greatest surprise of all. It +contained a very beautiful bracelet set with a single large sapphire, +and tied to it was a card which read-- + + + "Merry Christmas to my girl, from Don" + + +"The darling," Phyllis said happily as she clasped it over her arm; +"what a wonderful gift!" + +"Indeed it is, my dear," Auntie Mogs agreed, "but"--she added with a +smile, "I think you deserve it." + +Jack looked at it gleefully. "Ha, ha!" he exclaimed, "now I can tell +them apart!" + +He spoke with pride, but his fall was not far off, for before many +minutes had passed Phyllis had slipped the bracelet to Janet, and his +confusion was worse than ever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +PHYLLIS'S "MATH" PAPER + +Examination week had come. Every face in the big study hall gave ample +proof to the fact. Bowed heads and narrowed eyes pored over open +text-books, and a strained and unnatural silence hung over the room. + +Even in the ten-minute recess only whispers could be heard, and most of +the heads kept on over their books. + +"Sally's Aunt Jane's poll parrot," Phyllis whispered. "I haven't a +chance in a thousand of passing math. I wouldn't mind so much if I +didn't know that Ducky Lucky will be delighted. How do you feel, Jan?" + +"Scared to death," Janet admitted. "My hands are frozen, and my tongue +is sticking to the roof of my mouth." + +"Oh, I wish you'd keep still," Muriel fretted. "I'm trying to study." + +"What's the use?" Rosamond asked. "You can't learn things at the last +minute, so why try?" + +Muriel put her fingers in her ears and bowed again over her book. + +The bell rang, and every girl gave a deep sigh. It was partly relief +and partly dread. + +Miss Baxter entered the room, her arms full of papers. + +"She's having the time of her life," Phyllis said crossly. "I bet she +flunks every one of us." + +The papers were distributed to the various classes, and Miss Baxter +took her place on the platform. A heavy silence descended upon the +room, only broken by the scratching of many pen points. Miss Baxter +insisted in having her papers written in ink and written neatly; the +combination was not always easy to achieve. + +Phyllis, who had moved her seat half way across the room, surveyed the +questions before her in dismay. There did not appear to be one out of +the ten that she could do. She buried her head in her hands and waited +for an inspiration. None came, and she looked over at Janet. + +"She looks as though she positively liked it," she said to herself. +"Well, I suppose I might as well do something." + +She settled to work and scratched away for two long hours. She knew +she was making mistakes, but she went ahead, determined to have a +filled and neatly written paper if nothing else. + +She had finished long before Janet, but she waited until she saw her +folding her paper before she signed her name to her own. They followed +each other to the desk, Miss Baxter not at all sure which was which. + +"Well?" Phyllis demanded as they met in the hall. + +"Well, what?" Janet inquired. + +"Did you flunk?" + +"I don't believe so; it was easy." + +"Easy!" + +"I thought so, anyway. I answered them all, and they seemed to work +out right." + +"Hum." + +"What's the trouble?" + +"Oh, nothing, only I flunked." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because I just wrote numbers." + +"Oh, well, cheer up. Maybe they were the right numbers." Janet was +determined to be cheerful. She had found the examination much easier +than she had expected and she felt reasonably sure that she had passed. + +"I don't much care; we've the rest of the day to ourselves anyway; +let's go home." Phyllis made the suggestion light heartedly enough, +for lessons never worried her for very long and mathematics least of +all. + +They walked home through the park and met Don. He was chasing brownies +as usual, and poor Nannie was finding it difficult to keep up with him. +She never let him out of her sight for even an instant, and every man +that passed was a possible kidnapper in her old eyes. + +Don greeted the girls with joy. + +"I were chasing a brownie!" he exclaimed, "but he got away from me." + +He took Phyllis by the hand and led her towards the lake. Janet sat +down on the bench beside his nurse. + +"Why does Don always say were, instead of was?" she inquired. + +"'Deed, miss, that's his father's fault," Nannie replied. "One day +Master Don said 'they was going' and his father picked him up on his +lap and he said to him, said he, 'Don, never say was, say were.' The +poor lamb was so startled that he never forgot, and I can't make him +change for the life of me." + +"Don't try," Janet laughed; "it's awfully cunning to hear him say were! +I hope he never changes." + +Phyllis came back, a brown leaf in her hand, and Don tugging at her +skirts. + +"Here we are, Nannie, all safe and sound, and we caught the brownie." +She gave the leaf to Don, and she and Janet went on their way. + +"Let's stop and see Akbar," Phyllis suggested. + +"I knew you'd say that," Janet laughed. "What makes you so fond of +that animal." + +"Oh, I don't know; he always makes me want to do something with my +hands." + +"Paint?" + +"No, I don't think so." + +"Mold, perhaps?" Janet asked the question idly, but Phyllis spun around +and stopped as she heard it. + +"That's it!" she cried excitedly. "I want to mold him. I never +realized it until this minute. Come on, let's hurry home. There's +some putty in the cellar and I'm going to try." + +Janet, used to her twin's sudden whims, followed in amused silence. + +When they reached home they found a letter from Sally awaiting them. + +"Oh, read it quick!" Phyllis exclaimed. "No, wait a minute. Let's go +up to the snuggery and get comfy." She went off to find some putty and +joined Janet a few minutes later. + +"Now read," she said, as she cuddled down into the corner of the couch. + +Janet opened the letter and began, + + +"Dearest of Twins (she read): + +"I am in the infirmary, pretending to have a cold but don't waste time +worrying about me for it's all a fake to get a chance to breathe, which +is something that I find you are not supposed to do at Hilltop (isn't +that a precious name for a school? I like it better every time I think +of it), except when you sleep. + +"I know you both think me a heartless wretch for not having written +oftener, but honestly I haven't time. It is go, go, go, from morning +till night. I used to think we kept pretty busy but we were tortoises +compared to the rate here. Up every morning at seven, lessons begin at +nine, lunch is at twelve-thirty; more lessons until two, and then the +rest of the day is yours. No study hours unless you are reported by +some teacher for not being prepared, then the wrath of the gods +descends upon your head and you are packed off to Assembly Hall and +made to work for two hours a day for a whole week. You may better +believe that we study to keep our blessed privilege. + +"The girls have a joke on me, and they tease all the time. I said Aunt +Jane's poll parrot just once. That was enough! They pretend now that +there is such a bird and that I keep him hidden in my room. They ask +after his health morning, noon and night, and ask me quite seriously to +consult him. Even the teachers do it. I nearly died in history class +when Miss Jenks, a love and nothing but a girl, just out of college, +asked me the date of the Battle of Hastings, I couldn't remember and +she looked at me so impishly and said, 'Better ask Aunt Jane's poll +parrot.' Imagine Ducky Lucky doing such a thing. + +"I haven't told you one thing that I wanted to and this letter is all +one grand jumble, but I'll try to do better next time. + +"You simply must come next year; must, must, must. I've written Mother +to persuade your aunt, and she has promised to try. + +"Write soon and forgive blots. One of the girls is reading over my +shoulder and she says to blame the blots on Aunt Jane's poll parrot, +and to be sure and come next year. + +"Oceans of love, + + "SALLY." + + +Janet folded up the letter and laughed softly. + +"Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?" + +Phyllis stop trying to produce Akbar's image in putty long enough to +reply. + +"I should say it does. No study hours! What bliss! Auntie Mogs +simply has to let us go!" she exclaimed. "And what is better still, no +Ducky Lucky! I wish I knew if our papers were corrected or not." + +She would have been more than surprised had she known what was going on +at that very moment. + +Miss Baxter was busy correcting papers. She finished Janet's and +marked it with a big red B; then the fates stepped in. Miss Baxter was +called to the telephone. When she returned to her desk the paper next +for correction happened to be Phyllis's. Miss Baxter saw the name and +frowned; she always frowned when she thought of the twins. + +"Funny," she said to herself. "I thought I corrected this paper. So I +did and I decided to give it a B. The telephone confused me." + +With her usual precision she marked a B on the right-hand corner of the +paper and pushed it from her. + +Phyllis gazed at it the next morning in joyful surprise. Had she been +any one but Phyllis she would have at least glanced at her mistakes, +but being Phyllis, she accepted her good luck with joy and threw the +paper into the waste-paper basket. Not seeing Miss Baxter's mistake, +she could not draw her attention to it. + +So the Page twins tricked Miss Baxter once again, and the joke was no +less amusing because of their ignorance. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE FAREWELL PARTY + +Spring made an early appearance in New York and decked itself more +charmingly than ever. The trees showed tiny green buds, and the grass +freshened under the warm showers, almost as you looked. + +Jonquils and crocuses appeared to welcome the fat robins that returned +to their nests, and all Nature hummed and fluttered in its eager +preparations. + +Janet and Phyllis were busy planning a farewell party, as they sat in +the sunshine in the park one Sunday morning. + +"If we could only think of something different to do," Phyllis wailed. +"I am so tired of dances and skating parties and afternoon teas. We've +been going to them all winter." + +"I know," Janet agreed, "but what else is there to do?" + +"Nothing, I suppose," Phyllis replied. "So which shall it be?" + +"I don't know,"--Janet refused to decide. "Let's ask Auntie Mogs." + +"No, let's make up our own minds," Phyllis insisted. "If we were only +at Old Chester we could have a picnic." + +"But there'd be no one to go to it but Harry Waters and the Blakes," +Janet reminded her. + +"That's right, I forgot Peter and Jack are at school; but anyhow a +picnic would be fun." + +"Where could you have one around here?" Janet demanded, practical as +ever. + +Phyllis looked at her disapprovingly. + +"Jan, you're a wet blanket!" she exclaimed. + +"I'm not. I'm only trying to be sensible." + +"Well, stop; it's too gorgeous a day to be anything but happy, so don't +let's bother about that stupid party any more." + +"What party was ever stupid, may I ask?" a voice inquired from above +them, and they looked up to see Mr. Keith. + +They made room for him on the bench, and he sat down between them. + +"Tell me about the stupid party," he invited. + +"It isn't one really," Janet explained; "it's just going to be." + +"We're going to give it," Phyllis continued, "and it's going to be +stupid because we can't think of anything to do that hasn't been done a +million times before." + +Mr. Keith's eyes twinkled, but he answered very gravely: + +"I see." + +"A picnic would be wonderful this weather, but there's no place to have +a picnic in the city," Phyllis went on dejectedly. + +"Quite so," Mr. Keith agreed; "let's all think for two minutes and then +see who has an idea." + +They thought, and at the end of the two minutes he said, + +"Any ideas?" + +"Not a one." + +"Worse than ever." + +Mr. Keith smiled and stood up. + +"Then I have a suggestion to make," he said. "When is this party to +be?" + +"A week from yesterday," Phyllis told him. + +"Then don't make any plans until you hear from me. I will think hard +all day, and to-morrow sometime I will call you up, and now I must go +and find Don. I promised to watch him sail his boat." He lifted his +silk hat and walked away, humming a little tune. + +"I like him, ever so much," Janet said as she watched him. + +"I adore him!" Phyllis exclaimed. "He's a perfect darling, but then +he's Don's father, so he'd have to be." + +The promised 'phone message did not come until Monday evening after +dinner. The girls made up their minds that he had forgotten all about +them, and had started new plans. + +Phyllis answered the 'phone. + +"Am I speaking to the Page twins!" a voice asked. + +"Part of them," Phyllis laughed. + +"Well, I have a message for them both. They are to be ready to go on a +picnic Saturday morning at ten o'clock." + +"Oh, but--" gasped Phyllis. + +"And in the meantime they are not to worry about their guests. They +have all been invited and they have all accepted," the voice went on, +"and they are not to worry about food either, for the luncheon has all +been attended to." The voice stopped. + +"Is that you, Mr. Keith?" Phyllis demanded, but a laughing "good night" +was her only answer. + +She flew back to the snuggery to tell Janet the news, and they both +went down to the library to tell Auntie Mogs. She did not look as +surprised as she might have been expected to, but they were too excited +to notice that. + +"What do you suppose he means?" Phyllis demanded. "Where can we be +going?" + +"Auntie Mogs, do say something," Janet begged. + +"Wait and see,"--Miss Carter laughed, and they had to be content with +that. + +Saturday dawned clear and warm; the sun beamed and spread his rays to +the farthest corner of the sky. It looked as though some one had +ordered a day for a picnic, and Dame Nature had done her best to +satisfy them. + +At ten o'clock the girls heard loud tootings, and Janet, who was +putting on her hat, hurried to the window. + +"Oh, Phyl, do look; three automobiles full of every girl and boy you +ever knew." + +They rushed downstairs, and Mr. Keith met them at the door. + +"All ready?" he inquired. "Come along, Miss Carter; we will lead the +way." + +The girls were too excited to answer. They followed their aunt to the +waiting cars, where a babble of greetings met them. Mr. Keith helped +Miss Carter into the first one, and the girls into the second. + +"Go ahead," he called to the chauffeurs, and jumped in after them. + +Phyllis could see that Mrs. Vincent was in the last car. She smiled +and waved to her. + +Daphne and Chuck and Jerry and Howard were in their car, and they +squeezed up to make room for Janet and Phyllis. Mr. Keith sat in the +front beside the driver. + +A buzz of questions and speculations rose from every car, but no one +seemed to have the least idea where they were going. + +They picked their way carefully through the city streets, but once in +the country they flew along. Towns whizzed by, and at last they slowed +up for Poughkeepsie, crossed the river on the ferry, and snorted up the +hill on the other side. + +As they reached the top of a hill and began the descent everybody said +"Oooooh," for beneath them and on every side was a veritable fairyland +of apple blossoms. + +They stopped at an old farmhouse, and all jumped out to find the picnic +spread out for them under the apple trees. Chicken, salads, tarts and +every kind of fruit covered the white cloth, and the air had whipped +their appetites into being. They needed no second invitation but threw +themselves on to the ground and did justice to the tempting repast. + +After luncheon they wandered about under the trees until it was time to +go home. + +As each guest passed Mrs. Vincent before they got into the motors, she +gave them each a box. They opened them in surprise, that turned +quickly to exclamations of delight as they gazed at the contents. + +Tiny gold butterflies and enameled wings for the girls and stick pins +with bumble bees in black and gold for the boys. On the back of each +pin was the date and Janet's and Phyllis's initials. + +The girls were so excited watching their guests' delight that they +forgot to open their own boxes until Daphne reminded them of them. + +"I know yours will be different," she said. + +They opened them to find butterflies, like the rest, but twice as +large. On the back was inscribed, "In memory of the stupid party." + +"Oh, Mr. Keith, how are we ever going to thank you!" Janet exclaimed. + +"It has been the most beautiful stupid party that ever was," Phyllis +added. "Oh, please, please, believe that we are truly grateful." + +"Nonsense," laughed Mr. Keith. "You forget I am still heavily in your +debt, and to-day has only added to that indebtedness, for I can +honestly say I never enjoyed a picnic as much as this in all my life." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +CONCLUSION + +Auntie Mogs looked up from her mail at the breakfast table and smiled +at Phyllis and Janet as they took their places, one on either side of +her. + +"Here is something that may interest you," and she held out two letters. + +Phyllis took one and Janet the other. + +"It's from Tommy; do listen,"--Phyllis almost knocked over the cream +pitcher in her excitement. + + +"Dear family"--(she read) + +"I am expecting you on the fourteenth of this month and may the date +hurry up and get here. I will meet you at the station, prepared for +your luggage and live stock. Don't get lost on the way, please, as +this West is rather large and I might have difficulty in finding you. + +"The conductor will see that you change at the junction and don't +forget that you get out at Quantos. + +"My ranch is so clean that it doesn't know itself, and some of my +cowboys are laying in a stock of new collars in honor of your arrival. +But none of them can compare with the pleasure that I get out of every +minute of the day when I think that you will soon be with me. + +"Your affectionate nephew and brother, + + "TOM." + + +Janet held up her envelope and shook it. Tickets, yards long it +seemed, fell out on to the table cloth. + +"We are really going," they said together, and they looked straight +into each other's eyes across the table. + +Perhaps they saw the joys of the coming summer, mirrored in their brown +depths. 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