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diff --git a/38834.txt b/38834.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 16070b5..0000000 --- a/38834.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4351 +0,0 @@ - THE TWINS IN THE SOUTH - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: The Twins in the South - -Author: Dorothy Whitehill - -Release Date: February 11, 2012 [EBook #38834] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TWINS IN THE SOUTH *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net. - -[Illustration: _JANET AND PHYLLIS LOOKED AT HER WITH DANGEROUSLY CALM -EYES_] - - *THE TWINS IN THE SOUTH* - - _By_ - - DOROTHY WHITEHILL - - - - PUBLISHERS - - BARSE & HOPKINS - - NEW YORK, N. Y., NEWARK, N. J. - - Copyright, 1920 - - by - - Barse & Hopkins - - MADE IN U.S.A. - - - - -Table of Contents - - - CHAPTER I--Welcome to Hilltop - CHAPTER II--School Chatter - CHAPTER III--Sally Arrives - CHAPTER IV--The Rivalry of the Wings - CHAPTER V--A Fresh Freshman - CHAPTER VI--A Squelching - CHAPTER VII--Poetry and Prose - CHAPTER VIII--More Twins - CHAPTER IX--A Question of Names - CHAPTER X--The Parrot Is Consulted - CHAPTER XI--The Archery Contest - CHAPTER XII--Janet to the Rescue - CHAPTER XIII--Diverse Paths - CHAPTER XIV--The Story of the Two Dogs - CHAPTER XV--Making Plans - CHAPTER XVI--More Plans and Plots - CHAPTER XVII--The Tableaux - CHAPTER XVIII--The Elections - CHAPTER XIX--The Tennis Games - CHAPTER XX--The Dramatic Club - CHAPTER XXI--And Last - - *The Twins in the South* - - - - -CHAPTER I--Welcome to Hilltop - - -"I always believe in separating sisters," Miss Hull made this -astonishing announcement with a gentle smile. - -Janet and Phyllis looked at each other, consternation written large on -their faces. - -"But Miss Hull----" Janet began. - -It was Phyllis who spoke with grown-up assurance. - -"We couldn't think of being separated, Miss Hull," she said, with one of -her winning smiles. "You see, we found each other only a little over a -year ago, and we've such a lot of time to make up." - -"But if you were separated you'd get to know the girls so much better," -Miss Hull's soft Southern drawl protested. "I've planned for each of you -to room with an old girl. I'm sure it's the better way." - -Miss Hull was an imperious woman, statuesque in figure, a smooth level -brow, flashing dark eyes and a mass of wavy gray hair, piled high on her -head. When she said a thing she expected instant submission. She was -surprised when Phyllis, still with her charming smile, but with a note -of firmness in her voice, replied: - -"But you see, Miss Hull, we should both be very unhappy. We're twins, -you know, and that makes a difference." - -Miss Hull could not deny the note of decision in her voice, and like all -broad-minded and imperious people, she admired anyone who had those same -qualities in common with her. - -She did not speak down to Phyllis, but rather as to an equal, when she -replied: - -"Very well, you will room together. I suppose being twins does make a -difference," she added laughingly. - -Phyllis thanked her, and with a maid to guide them, they went upstairs -to a big room, with long French windows, one of which opened onto a tiny -balcony. They sat down in comfortable wicker chairs and stared at each -other. - -"Oh, Phyl, you are magnificent!" Janet exclaimed. "I never was so -petrified in my life. Miss Hull is such a masterful sort of person that -she silenced me with a glance." - -Phyllis tossed her head. - -"The person never lived that could silence me," she said vaingloriously. -"But I don't think it was very nice of her to wait until Auntie Mogs -left and then try to separate us." - -"We should have let Auntie Mogs stay at the hotel for a day or two as -she wanted to," Janet remarked thoughtfully. - -"No; that would have been a kiddish thing to do; and after all, Jan., -Miss Hull was really doing what she thought was right. As soon as I -explained to her she was very nice about it. I like her tremendously," -she said. - -"Well, I don't," Janet announced firmly. "She tried to separate us." - -"But she didn't, dearest. It would take more than Miss Hull to do that." -Phyllis laughed into Janet's serious eyes. - -The Page twins after a summer in Arizona with their brother Tom, had -come to Hilltop school. Their aunt, Miss Carter, had brought them from -New York to the Virginia hills, but had returned almost at once, for -they had arrived early that morning, and she had taken the afternoon -train for home. It was six o'clock now, and from their window they could -see the twilight creeping closer to the great old trees that grew in a -thick protecting border around the school. - -Hilltop was indeed well named. The white colonial building crowned the -hill, and a roadway, straight as an arrow, and lined on either side with -tall interlacing elms, ran down the gentle slope for a mile and a half -until it joined the highway in the valley. - -It had been a wonderful mansion in its day. Now a new wing had been -added on, and many of the rooms had been divided and cut up into smaller -ones, but the outside of the house had lost nothing of its old-world -dignity and charm. - -Janet and Phyllis stood in the little balcony and watched the shadows -lengthen on the green below. They had each other so they were not -unhappy, but the suggestion of a lump in their throats made them think a -little forlornly of Auntie Mogs and the cheerful rooms of their New York -house. - -"I wish Sally would come," Janet exclaimed. "I simply can't wait to see -her." - -"Neither can I," Phyllis agreed. "Just think, we haven't seen her since -last Christmas." - -"It was a shame Daphne couldn't come down with us, wasn't it?" - -"Yes, in a way; but we'll be acquainted by the time she gets here, and -that will be nice, too." - -"Still, it would have been fun to have her on the train with us." - -Sally Ladd and Daphne Hillis were old friends of the twins. They had -known them in New York, and at Miss Harding's school they had been known -as The Quartette. Sally had come to Hiltop for the second term the year -before, and it was because of her glowing accounts of boarding-school -life that the other three girls had decided to come this year. - -Sally had not come from New York with the twins, as they had planned, -because at the last minute she had decided to visit a friend of hers in -Ohio. Her train was due at eight o'clock. - -A knock at the door brought the twins in from the balcony. - -"Come in," Janet called, and a tall, heavily-built girl with red hair -and spectacles entered the room. - -"Aren't you the Page twins?" she inquired heartily. - -"Yes, we are," Phyllis and Janet answered. - -"Well, Sally Ladd has talked so much about you that I feel as if I'd -known you all my life. I'm Gwendolyn Matthews, otherwise known as Gwen." -She held out a large hand covered with golden freckles, and the twins -shook it gratefully. - -"Come along downstairs and be shown off. The girls are dying to see you, -for of course Sally has told us the thrilling way you discovered each -other last year." - -Phyllis and Janet followed her down the wide red-carpeted hall to the -floor below. They could see the lights coming from a big room a little -way beyond, and hear a hubbub of voices. - -Janet had a sudden and overwhelming desire to run, but Phyllis hurried -forward eagerly. Gwen pushed them both before her, and they found -themselves in an immense room, brightly lighted by two crystal -chandeliers. The ceiling was painted with white clouds against a blue -sky, and fat little cupids danced or plied their art with miniature bows -and arrows. It was the old ballroom untouched and still beautiful after -these long years. - -They had barely time to look about them before Gwen held up an -impressive hand and announced in strident tones: - -"The Page Twins." - -There was an instant hush of voices and the girls looked at them -curiously. A dark-haired, blue-eyed girl, dressed in fluffy white, left -the group she had been talking to and came towards them with -outstretched hands. - -"I declare, Gwen, you are just a dreadful tease." Her delightful -Southern drawl was lazily good-natured. - -"How do you do? We're mighty glad to welcome you to Hilltop," she said -cordially. - -"That's awfully sweet of you," Phyllis smiled winningly. - -"Thanks," Janet mumbled. - -"My name is Hillory Lee, and I'm a Senior," she went on; but a rippling -laugh interrupted her. - -"A Senior, just one day old. Come now, Poppy, don't put on airs. You're -not old enough." - -"A dear little, new little, Senior, all filled up with dignity," another -voice teased. - -Poppy--Hillory Lee was always called Poppy--led the laugh that followed, -and then suddenly the girls gathered around the twins, introducing -themselves and talking with a fine disregard of one another. - -The dinner gong silenced them, and out of the confusion a double line -formed down the length of the room. Phyllis and Janet were shown their -places along with the rest of the new girls. - -Poppy, as the president of the senior class, stood on the top of the -steps that led to a small stage at the end of the room. - -"You all must come to order, and please go down very quietly to the -hall," she said a little shyly; but no one attempted to tease her. She -represented Hilltop as she stood on the stage, and they one and all gave -her instant obedience. - -The dining hall was under the ballroom of the first floor. Deer heads -decorated the wall, with other trophies of the chase. A huge fireplace -ran along the side of one wall. The mantel was filled with big silver -loving cups. - -Janet and Phyllis were to learn their importance in the life of the -school as the year progressed. Just at present they could not take in -details. They were too busy trying to sort their first impressions. - -There were four long tables with twenty girls and two teachers at each. -The twelve seniors, with Miss Hull, sat apart in state on a dais at the -end of the room. The tables were all narrow and the high-backed oak -chairs gave the room the look of an old monastery. - -There was lots of talking at dinner. The twins did not try to remember -all of the girls' names, but three of them stood out as special friends -of Sally's. One was Gladys Manners, a rough-and-tumble sort of girl with -mischievous blue eyes, dark hair and a contagious giggle. - -"Do you know Aunt Jane's poll-parrot?" she asked at the beginning of the -meal, and the twins loved her at once. - -Prudence Standish--called Prue for brevity's sake--sat beside Janet, and -she was so attentive and thoughtful during the meal and so careful to -explain what the girls meant by their many illusions of places and -things that had happened in the past, that the twins' gratitude ripened -into a sincere liking before the meal was over. - -The third girl sat just across from Phyllis. Her name was Ann Lourie. -She hardly spoke through the meal, but her quiet smile and the humor -that lay at the back of her hazel eyes gave the twins the impression of -a personality worth cultivating. - -The teachers at the table were Miss Remsted and Miss Jenks. They were -both young and full of fun, and the twins contrasted them with the -teachers at Miss Harding's, to the latter's disadvantage. - -When dinner was over Miss Hull stood up. - -"You have nothing to do tonight, girls, but get acquainted; and I want -you to do that thoroughly. Remember, every new girl must be made to feel -at home at Hilltop." - -The bell tinkled, the lines formed, and the girls marched back to the -ballroom. - - - - -CHAPTER II--School Chatter - - -It was not long after they had returned to the ballroom until the twins -found themselves in the center of a group of laughing girls. - -"It would be a regular game," Gladys Manners announced. - -"What would?" Phyllis demanded. - -"Guessing which was which," Gladys told her. - -"Oh, let's try it," half-a-dozen voices exclaimed. - -They put the twins side by side, and then the girls took turns guessing. -Between turns the twins would change places, or remain where they were. - -"Oh, this is too much!" Prue exclaimed, after she had stared at them for -a full minute. "I'm dizzy with looking from one to the other of you, but -I'm blessed if I know which one I sat next to at dinner." - -"This is going to be too complicated. I vote that we do something about -it." Ann Lourie spoke with a Southern intonation, but it was different -from Miss Hull's speech and Poppy's lazy drawl. She came from New -Orleans, which accounted for the difference. - -"What are you all doing?" Poppy, with her arm around Gwen's broad -shoulders, joined them. - -"We're playing a new game," Gladys announced. "It's called 'Guessing the -Twins.'" - -"You're it, Poppy," Prue laughed. "See if you can do it." - -Poppy tried. The twins looked up at her provokingly. Their soft brown -hair waved back from their forehead with almost identical curls. Their -heads, exactly the same oval shape, were pressed close together. Their -red lips each smiled a twisted smile, and their golden-brown eyes, so -like the color of autumn leaves, danced mischievously. - -"I declare to goodness there isn't anybody on earth that can tell you -two apart," Poppy laughed. - -"Oh, but there are!" Phyllis told them. "Sally never gets us mixed up." - -"Oh, that's easy to understand," Gwen remarked. "Sally just asks Aunt -Jane's poll-parrot which is which, and that bird, you know, can tell her -anything." - -"Just the same, it's going to be complicating," Ann repeated, "and I -suggest that we make one of them wear something to distinguish her from -the other. It need only be something tiny, just big enough for our -select group," her eyes travelled from Prue to Gladys and to Poppy and -Gwen. - -"That's a mighty good idea of yours, Ann, and as representatives of the -senior class"--Gwen was captain of sports--"we endorse it." - -"The question is, what shall it be?" Prue inquired. - -"I know." Gladys unpinned a tiny little gold pin that she was wearing. -It was the shape of the crescent moon, and was no bigger than a good -sized pea. - -"It's an old class pin I had years ago when I went to day school. I -don't know what possessed me to put it on yesterday when I left -home----" - -"I do," Prue interrupted. "You had a snapper off, and you thought that -would show less than an ordinary pin." - -"Untidy little wretch you are," Ann agreed. - -The rest looked at Gladys' cuff and, sure enough, there was a snapper -off. Gladys, under their laughing scrutiny, was no whit embarrassed. - -"Course I'm untidy," she agreed; "that's because I'm an artist, and it's -being done this year. You couldn't expect me to be as neat as Prue, the -immaculate." - -Prue laughed good-naturedly. "Meaning I am not an artist," she remarked. -"Well, nobody will dispute that with you, least of all Miss Remsted." - -The rest of the old girls laughed as at some well known joke and the -twins smiled in sympathy. - -"Prue tried to have a crush on Miss Remsted last year," Poppy explained. -"We don't encourage them--crushes, I mean--at Hilltop, but Prue is -stubborn--comes from New England, you know, where the word was -coined--and she would have a crush in spite of the fact that she had -been here two years and knew that we would have to take drastic steps to -cure her." - -"You did and I'm cured; can't we spare them the harrowing details?" Prue -protested. - -"No; it may be a lesson they'll need, and besides, Poppy loves to point -a moral," Gwen remarked. "Go on, Poppy; let's hear the awful end." - -"It's coming; just you listen." Poppy directed her story to the twins. -"Prue suddenly decided, about the middle of the term, that she was a -budding young artist and that all she needed was a little special -instruction, so she went to Miss Hull and got permission to take special -art. Then she went to Miss Remsted----." Poppy paused to chuckle in -anticipation. - -"Miss Remsted told her to bring her her best sketch," she continued. -"Now, Prue had never made a sketch in her life, but she reckoned it -would be easy enough." - -"Prue's a futurist," Gwen interrupted. - -"So she about made up her mind to draw an animal. What made you choose -something that was living, Prue? I never did understand." - -"Then you never will, because I'm not going to tell you," Prue replied -airily. - -"Oh, but I am," Ann smiled reminiscently. "The day before she did the -sketch she came to me and asked me if a great many artists hadn't made -their start by drawing pictures of animals. I thought for a minute and -then----" - -"To show off the knowledge that you haven't got"--Gladys took up the -story--"you casually mentioned Rosa Bonheur, and Prue went straight to -her desk and----" She turned to Poppy. - -"Drew--I mean sketched--the gardener's watch dog," Poppy went on. "He -was a nice dog, but not very sketchable. You all know how dogs will jump -'round, so you can't blame Prue for what happened. She finished the -sketch and took it to Miss Remsted." - -"I did not, I _left_ it for her in the studio," Prue corrected. - -"Left it; excuse me, I stand corrected," Poppy continued. "History does -not repeat just what Miss Remsted said or did, but when Prue went to her -desk next morning she found her dog with this little note pinned to his -tail--not literally, you understand, but figuratively: 'Prue, dear; it's -a very nice little rabbit, but it's a pity he has the mumps.'" - -The laugh that followed was led by Prue. The twins exchanged glances. -They were both thinking how very differently some of the girls at Miss -Harding's would have taken such teasing. - -Phyllis always liked and was liked by girls, so she gave the matter less -consideration than Janet. Janet's heart glowed; here were the kinds of -girls that she had dreamed about. Their teasing stopped before it became -unkind. Their laughter held no hint of derision; and, above all, she was -conscious of the feeling of fellowship and understanding that existed -between them. She found herself wishing that she could be the brunt of -their teasing, for somehow, she felt that in that way only could she be -admitted to the happy sisterhood. - -"There's a strong bond between sister classes at Hilltop," Gladys was -explaining. "That's the reason that Gwen and Poppy prefer to talk to us, -who are only Sophomores, instead of joining that group of -important-looking Juniors over there." She pointed to half-a-dozen girls -a little older than the twins who were laughing and joking at the other -side of the room. - -"They'll adopt the Freshmen and make them behave," Prue exclaimed. - -"While it is the Senior's painful duty to see that our class keeps out -of mischief," Gladys laughed. - -The twins smiled. They liked the way these girls finished each other's -sentences and interrupted each other without giving and taking offence. - -Ann looked up at the clock--a grandfather one--which stood in the corner -of the big room and chimed out the hours drowsily. - -"'Most time for Sally to come," she announced. "Let's go and watch for -her." - - - - -CHAPTER III--Sally Arrives - - -"May we go to the senior's retreat, Poppy?" Gladys asked. "Your balcony -is such a dandy place to watch the road from." - -Once more the twins felt a little tremble of pleasure. Although the -girls were the best of friends in spite of the difference in their ages, -the Sophomores as a class never failed in their respect to the Seniors. - -"Yes, come along; we'll go with you," Poppy replied. - -"I'd like to get the first look at Sally myself," Gwen added. "I hope -she hasn't forgotten to bring Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot." - -They left the ballroom and walked down the broad hall all arm-in-arm. - -"Seniors all busy tonight, the lights are not lit," Prue remarked as -they entered a dark room. Gwen switched on the lights and the twins -found themselves in what seemed to be a delightful chintz lined nook. - -It was a small room directly over the front door. The two-story piazza, -with its enormous pillars, enclosed the balcony that led from it through -long French windows. - -"This is the Seniors' Sanctum Sanctorum," Prue explained. "When the -cares of school government grow too much for them they come in here to -rest." - -"It is also the chamber of horrors on occasion," Gladys added. "Just -wait until you've done something bad, and Poppy calls you in to give you -a racking over the coals." - -"Why, Gladys; what do you mean by talking like that?" Poppy protested -mildly. "I just never could be severe, and I don't expect to have to be -either; especially," she added seriously, "to any girl in my sister -class." - -Prue and Gladys and Ann nodded approval. - -"We'll be good," Ann said seriously. "We want to give you all the help -possible." - -Once more the twins felt a little glow of thankfulness around their -hearts. - -The sound of carriage wheels took them all to the balcony. - -"Sally!" Gladys exclaimed; and with one accord they rushed down the -stairs and out to the front porch. - -Long before the carriage reached the steps, Sally was out of it. She -rumbled to the ground and ran towards them, her black bag knocking -against her knees. - -"Where are my twins?" she demanded breathlessly. - -Janet and Phyllis almost smothered her in the warmth of their embrace. - -"Oh, Sally, you old darling!" Phyllis exclaimed. "You look so -wonderfully natural that I could eat you up for sheer joy." - -"We thought you'd never get here, and we missed you on the train like -everything," Janet said. - -"Hello, Sally; it's great to have you back," Gladys shook hands -heartily. - -"How's Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot?" Gwen inquired. "My, how I missed that -bird this summer!" - -"Well, and wiser than ever," Sally laughed as she held out her hand to -Poppy. - -"It's mighty nice to have you back, Sally," Poppy smiled affectionately. - -"We room together until your friend Daphne comes," Prue told her. - -"Good work. Hello, Ann; what are you lurking in the shadows for?" Sally -demanded. - -"Oh, I never rush, even to say how do you do to my best friend. I much -prefer to be the last on the list. Did you have a good summer?" - -"Oh, wonderful!" Sally enthused. "Alice's family were awfully nice to -me, and I had a glorious time." - -"It's too bad Alice isn't coming back," Gladys exclaimed. "I'm going to -miss her frightfully." - -"I know, but she really isn't well enough. Why girls, she's lost -pounds," Sally replied. Alice Bard was a girl Sally had been visiting. -She had been to Hilltop for three years, but was unable to return on -account of ill-health. - -"Well, come along; let's go in," Prue suggested. "After all, we're not -the only ones that want to see Sally." - -They followed into the house, and Sally, after she had said "how do you -do" to Miss Hull, rejoined them and they went on up to the ballroom. A -shout went up from the girls as they saw her coming, and she shook hands -until the silence bell sounded. - -"That's the trouble," Sally protested. "We no sooner get talking when -that old bell rings. There are loads of girls I haven't even had a -chance to speak to yet." - -The room emptied in a minute and the twins, with Sally between them, -went upstairs. - -"I can't come in and talk to you, because there's no visiting after -hours, but I'll see you bright and early in the morning," Sally -promised. "You're not homesick, are you?" - -"Homesick! I should say not," Phyllis protested. "I'm so excited I'm -ready to die, and now that you're here it's simply perfect." - -"I never knew there were so many nice girls in the world," Janet -exclaimed. "It's going to be wonderful, and won't it be fun having -Daphne come?" - -"Indeed it will; the old quartette together again," Sally agreed. "But -I've got to fly now or I'll be caught, and that will never do on the -first night back." - -They parted, Janet and Phyllis, in their own room with the door closed, -stood in the middle of the floor trying to decide why they were so -happy. - -"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Phyllis began. - -"It's just like a wonderful dream," Janet agreed. - -"It's nice to have Sally back, isn't it?" - -"You bet." - -"And I love Ann." - -"So do I, the best of all." - -They undressed slowly. - -"You honestly like it, Jan?" Phyllis inquired anxiously, after the -lights were out, and they were both in their single white beds. - -Janet's hand found Phyllis's. - -"I do honestly," she replied seriously. "There's something about their -spirit, the nice way they tease," she added. - -"And that sort of understood respect they give the Seniors," Phyllis -replied. "It's all so nice and--and--oh, I can't think of the word I -want." - -"I can; it's _happy_," Janet told her. - -They were quiet for a few minutes, and then Janet suddenly sat up in -bed. - -"But how awful it would have been if Miss Hull had separated us," she -said in the darkness. - -"She couldn't have done that. No one ever can," Phyllis replied very -positively, but very sleepily. - -"Never!" - - - - -CHAPTER IV--The Rivalry of the Wings - - -"All aboard for the grand tour of inspection," Gladys announced. - -School for the day was over. All through a confusing morning the twins -had been shown from one classroom to another where they had met their -teachers. There had been no attempt at lessons, but the girls had been -encouraged to talk and give their opinions on the different studies. As -a result of this, some shifting had been necessary. In English, one of -the new girls named Ethel Rivers had been dropped to the class below. -Because from her hasty remarks it was easy to see that she knew very -little of literature. She protested, but Miss Slocum stood firm. The -twins acquitted themselves well. They sat together and none of the -teachers could tell them apart, for they did not know about the tiny -crescent pin that Phyllis was faithfully wearing. But unlike Miss Baxter -at Miss Harding's school, the faculty at Hilltop rather enjoyed their -own confusion. - -Now they were free for the day, and Sally with the able assistance of -Prue and Gladys was waiting to show the twins over the school and the -grounds. - -"You've seen the classroom," Sally began, "and you know about the -assembly hall." - -"Oh, Sally, if you're not going to do better than that I'm going to play -guide," Gladys protested. "The idea of calling a ballroom the assembly -hall! It loses all its romance." - -"And besides, Miss Hull doesn't like it," Prue added. - -"Why?" Phyllis inquired. - -Sally waved her hand at Gladys as if she were introducing a speaker. - -"You tell it, Glad, and then we'll be sure to be amused." - -"I accept the nomination, and I will do my best for the people under my -care," Gladys said grandly. - -"Well, do start with the explanation of the ball room," Janet begged. -"I'm so curious." - -"That means the history of Hilltop, but I'll do my best," Gladys -replied, and began: - -"Fifty years ago, Colonel Hull lived in this house. He had lots of money -and he lived like a king. He was famous throughout the countryside for -his wonderful hunting, but, if you just go on spending money and never -do anything to make it, it doesn't last forever, so when Colonel Hull -died and Miss Hull's father had the house, he found he didn't have any -money to run it with. So for a long time Miss Hull and her father and -mother lived in the old wing and were terribly poor. - -"Then her parents died and the house was Miss Hull's, but still there -wasn't any money. All her friends wanted her to sell it, but she -wouldn't do it. There had been six generations of Hulls on this place, -and she wasn't going to let her ancestors up in heaven see her beaten by -a little thing like no money." - -"Oh, Glad!" Sally and Prue protested. - -"Well, she wasn't," Gladys persisted. "Maybe that's not a very elegant -way of putting it, but it's exactly as it was. She wouldn't admit she -was beaten, and, of course, she wasn't. - -"She got together with some teachers that she knew and she started -Hilltop. She started with ten pupils, and now I wish you'd look at us. -We're the most wonderful school in the country." - -Gladys finished as though she were closing a speech to the Senate. - -"But what about the ballroom?" Janet insisted. - -"I'm coming to that, if you have a little patience," Gladys told her. - -"Miss Hull remembered her grandfather, and she remembered how he liked -to have the rooms called by their special name, so she goes on calling -them the same and so you see, instead of having lectures in an assembly -hall, like everybody else, we have them in a real ballroom, that's the -most beautiful room in the state. - -"That's why we call it the ballroom still, and why we call the dining -room the hall, why Miss Hull's room is the boudoir instead of an office, -and why we have history in the library instead of a classroom. You see, -it gives us an advantage over other schools, makes Hilltop original -instead of an ordinary boarding school." - -Gladys paused, and looked at her listeners for appreciation. - -The twins sighed. "It's just wonderful!" Janet said. - -"Why it makes you think you're living in the time of white wigs and -patches," Phyllis whispered, looking about her as though she expected to -see Colonel Hull walk through one of the heavy oak doors, ready for a -day with the hounds. - -Janet's eyes held the look of dreamy speculation that had so often -filled them when she was reading old-world stories in her Enchanted -Kingdom. - -Gladys had dropped her mocking tone as the story unfolded. The realest -love in her life was Hilltop, and she loved to talk about it. She saw -the look in the twins' eyes that she had hoped to see, and she smiled -contentedly. - -"Now, ladies and gentlemen, step this way if you please," she went on -with a return to her laughing manner. "We will now learn something of -the present history of the school. We are now in the old building and, I -might add, the only building to live in, but observe this green baize -door. It leads to what is commonly called the new wing." - -She pushed it open with a contemptuous push, and they found themselves -in a spick-and-span corridor of white woodwork and gleaming mahogany -doors. In comparison to the old and stately paneled walls of the old -building it seemed new indeed. - -Several girls that the twins recognized came out of one of the rooms and -stopped in mock surprise. - -"Why, Gladys! Why, Prue! Why, Sally!" Louise Brown, a tall and lanky -girl, and one of their own classmates, exclaimed. "Is it possible that -you've come for a breath of fresh air to our light and sunny abode, -after the mouldy shadows of yours?" she asked, smiling sweetly. - -Gladys sighed, but it was Sally who answered. - -"No," she said in a bored tone, "we are simply showing Janet and Phyllis -what to avoid in the future." - -The other girls laughed good-naturedly. - -"That's one on you, Sally," Louise admitted, and one of the other girls -exclaimed: - -"Long live the rivalry between the old and the new at Hilltop!" - -"Well, anyway, now that you're here, come on into my room, I've got a -whale of a box of candy," little Kitty Joyce invited. - -When they were all seated in her dainty room, Phyllis said, shyly: - -"I wish somebody would explain to me about this rivalry; I don't -understand." - -"I'll explain!" Louise jumped up and stood in the middle of the floor, -her hands behind her back. - -"We are two distinct and separate wings," she began, "and we represent -the old and the new. For some reason that nobody will ever understand, a -spirit of rivalry started between the two years ago, when we were very -new. Now it is an established fact. We fight in games, in art and in -lessons for the glory of our wings, and even at the risk of being rude," -she added with a little twinkle in her eye, "I'm going to state last -year our house won everything." - -"Everything but archery, history, composition and dramatics," Prue -reminded her gravely. - -"Oh, pouf!" Kitty laughed. "Those don't count. We won the tennis cup, -the running cup, the art prize, for sculpture and painting." - -"That was last year," said Sally severely. - -They munched the candy for a while in silence, and then Kitty said -slowly: - -"Funny thing the way the wings feel about each other. Why, look at you, -Sally. You were awfully good friends with Alice Bard, and she was a new -wing girl...." - -"Well, for that matter, take us here today," Louise put in. "We're -really the best of friends, and yet--" - -"And yet there's a difference. It's rather like two brothers who go to -different colleges. They love each other, but they love their colleges -too." - -"All very well," said Gladys, "but the truth of the matter is that both -wings enjoy the spirit of competition. It gives us something to think -about and work for." - -"But you're so good-natured about it," Janet said wonderingly. - -"Of course we are," Sally replied. "Whoever heard of two basketball -teams really disliking each other, and yet they'll fight tooth and nail -for a cup." - -"A cup that they really don't want, either, except for what it stands -for," Gladys added with a little laugh. - -Kitty threw up her two little hands in mock despair. - -"Mercy on us. We are getting in deep. I vote we have some more -chocolates." - -The girls returned to the candy box with renewed interest and for the -time being the subject of the wings was dropped, but not before the -twins had grasped the exact nature of the rivalry. - - - - -CHAPTER V--A Fresh Freshman - - -"Something's got to be done about that little Ethel Rivers." - -Sally sat down in the big tufted chair in the twins' room, and made the -announcement with a positiveness that left no room for doubt. - -"What's she been doing now?" Phyllis laughed. - -"Why, Prue and I met her in the hall and she walked past us with her -nose in the air. Prue stopped her and asked her where she was going, and -what do you think she said?" - -"Can't imagine," Janet shook her head. "Tell us." - -"She said she was hurrying back to the new wing for a breath of clean -air." - -"Impertinent infant," Ann drawled lazily. She was lying on the foot of -Janet's bed, almost asleep. "It wouldn't have been nearly so bad if she -said fresh, but clean is really outrageous." - -"But of course she didn't mean it," Phyllis said. - -"That's the funny part of it," Prue came in from the balcony and stood -in the doorway, blotting out the light. "She really did mean it. She's -taken the rivalry of the wings as a deadly serious thing." - -"Being entirely without a sense of humor, she would," Sally said -crossly. "Remember Mary Marble last year? I was only a new girl, but I -saw something was going to happen." - -"It did. Our little Mary returned not this year." - -"What was the matter with Mary?" Phyllis inquired. - -"Didn't fit," Sally replied shortly, and dismissed the subject. - -There was a knock on the door and Gladys, too impatient to wait for -Janet's "Come in," opened it. By the expression on her face, all the -girls knew that something was the matter; even Ann sat up and looked -surprised. - -"What's wrong, Gladys?" she demanded. - -Gladys stood with her back to the door, her hand still on the knob. - -"The trouble," she said impressively, "is Ethel Rivers." - -Sally groaned. "What next?" she inquired. - -"She put a sign up on the green door, requesting the occupants of our -wing to be sure and keep it closed, so as not to let in any of the stale -air." - -"Oh, that's too much," Prue said indignantly. - -"Just like her," Ann replied with a shrug. "What did you do about it, -Glad?" - -"Didn't have to do anything. Poppy and Gwen came along just then and -read it. Poppy said, 'I declare, that's no nice way to act,' and Gwen -settled the whole matter with 'Very bad manners for one so young.'" - -The girls laughed a relieved sort of a laugh. The Seniors had the affair -in hand, and Hilltop looked from year to year to that little group of -girls to straighten out all their difficulties. - -Another knock sounded on the door. Gladys opened it, and one of the -younger children handed her a note. She opened it and read: - - "Dear Glad: - - Find Ann and Prue and Sally, and come down to the Seniors' - Retreat. We think you are better able to deal with the affair of - Ethel Rivers than we are. - - If we give her impertinence special notice, it will be putting - too much importance to the whole silly thing. - - Yours, - ---- Poppy." - -The girls jumped up quickly as Gladys finished reading the note aloud. - -"Better go right away," Prue said. "They're waiting." - -The rest followed her out of the room. - -"Meet you down on the front steps later," Sally called back over her -shoulder, and the twins were alone. - -Two weeks had passed since the opening of school, but although Janet and -Phyllis felt perfectly at home in their new surroundings, the life at -Hilltop had never for a second become monotonous. Every day they had -found some fresh interest, and they were beginning to understand that -apart from lessons every girl had a big responsibility towards the -school. - -"What a perfectly silly way for that girl to act!" Janet exclaimed. "I'd -like to box her ears." - -"So would I," Phyllis agreed. "Come along; let's go down and wait for -Sally." - -They went downstairs arm in arm and across the broad piazza. Phyllis sat -down with her back against one of the big pillars, and Janet stood on -the top step. - -The close-cropped green lawn fell away from the house in a gracious -slope to meet a fringe of trees that deepened into a woods at all sides. -The tennis courts were visible far away to the right. They were filled -with girls, and in the quiet of the late afternoon their voices floated -laughing on the breeze. To the left the archery target blazed in its -fresh coat of bright colors. - -Archery was the chief sport of Hilltop. Each year teams were chosen from -both wings, and on Archery Day the big silver loving cup was engraved -with the name of the girl who made the highest score; then it was -replaced in the center of the mantel-piece in the hall to await the next -year. - -Archery Day came at the end of the term, and, although the days before -and after it were filled with tennis matches, basketball, and running, -it stood out in importance above them all. - -The tryout for possible candidates was to take place the following week. -The girls in the four upper classes shot five arrows, and the committee -comprised with the Senior class and the faculty judged. Those selected -worked hard and practiced, and just before the Christmas holidays the -teams were chosen. - -"Did you ever shoot a bow and arrow, Jan?" Phyllis inquired. - -"Loads of them," Janet replied. "Harry Waters used to make them for me. -Little short ones made from the branches of trees, and arrows with a pin -in the end of them. Harry was very good at it, but I was terribly -clumsy." - -"I don't believe it," Phyllis protested; "you have a straight eye -anyway. Look at the way you shot Sulky Prescott's gun last summer." - -Janet gave a little shiver and looked long and earnestly at the target. - -"Don't talk about it," she said. "I'll tell you a secret Phyl. I'll die -of mortification if I don't make some sort of a score next week." - -"That's no secret," Phyllis laughed affectionately. "If you could have -seen your eyes when Gwen was talking about the contest; they were as big -as saucers." - -Janet flushed a little. "It's a good thing the rest of the girls don't -know me as well as you do," she said. - -"That's because I'm your twin. Oh, Jan, if you knew how I love to say -that," Phyllis said seriously. - -"I know," Janet nodded. "I'm still afraid sometimes that I'll wake up -and find it's all been a dream." - -"Hush," Phyllis cautioned suddenly. "Here comes Ethel." - - - - -CHAPTER VI--A Squelching - - -Upstairs in the Seniors' Retreat the girls were talking seriously. - -"Of course, she deserves to be called down in front of the whole -school," Helen Jenkins, a very severe type of girl with big horn-rimmed -spectacles, was saying. She was the editor of the school paper, and the -most studious girl in the school. - -"But, as Poppy says, it's never wise to attach too much importance to -the mistakes of a new girl," Marion West, vice-president of the class, -replied. - -Poppy looked at the three Sophomores before her. - -"Have you all any suggestions?" she inquired. - -Gladys and Sally looked at Ann. - -"Perhaps a gentle little boycott might help," she suggested quietly. - -"It's just as hard on our wing, if not worse, than it is on yours," -Stella Richardson, one of the Seniors who lived in the new wing, spoke -up. "There isn't one of us who wouldn't gladly drown the little wretch, -and the trouble is, she's gotten some of the new girls and talked to -them until they feel it's a positive virtue to be rude every time they -see one of you." - -"Oh, it's all too nonsensical," Gwen exploded. "Good old wings, who -dares to take our happy fight and make an ugly thing out of it?" - -"My thumbs are down for anyone who dares," Ruth Hall announced. She -roomed in the new wing with Stella Richardson. - -Gwendolyn Matthews might have been said to have snorted with rage. She -was a splendid healthy specimen of girlhood; a mind capable of small and -mean thoughts was beneath her contempt. She walked out on the balcony, -her back to the rest of the room. - -A minute later she beckoned cautiously to the girls to follow her. They -crowded out on the balcony on tip-toe and peered down as Gwen directed. - -Just below them, sitting on the steps, were Janet and Phyllis. Ethel -stood beside them. She was talking in a loud and excited way and the -girls listened. - -"I should think you'd want to get out of the damp old hole," she was -saying. "There's an extra room in our corridor." - -Janet and Phyllis looked at her with dangerously calm eyes. - -"We've by far the finest bunch of girls in our wing," she continued. -"We're going to take everything away from you this year." - -"Indeed!" Janet said quietly. - -"May I inquire how long you've been at Hilltop?" Phyllis asked politely. - -A smile ran around the group of faces watching from the balcony above. - -"Oh, I'm a new girl," Ethel replied rather flatly. - -"You'd never guess it," Janet said with so much scorn that Gwen almost -laughed, and Sally did, but the three on the piazza below were too -intent to look up. - -"I think the new girls ought to stick together," Ethel announced. "Of -course, if you still persist in living in the old wing, why the fight's -on, but I rather hoped you'd come over to us." - -Phyllis stood up. She was taller than the other girl, and she looked -straight down into her pale blue eyes. - -"Pardon me," she said, "but there is no fight on at all. As a new girl, -neither I nor my twin would presume to act as you advise." She sat down -again, with her back towards Ethel. - -Janet did not bother to stand when she said what she had to say. - -"We saw the sign you put up on the green door, and as new girls we are -thoroughly disgusted with you. If we banded together, it would be to -show you your proper place." Janet did not raise her voice as she spoke, -and when she had finished she looked out over the green lawns as though -the sight gave her pleasure after Ethel's sour face. - -"It might be well for you to remember," Phyllis spoke as though her -thoughts came from a long distance, "that though we are two separate -wings, we are both a part of Hilltop, and though we each give the best -that is in us, it is that Hilltop may soar the higher--not as you seem -to think it is, for any individual and mean advantage." - -The girls on the balcony looked at one another, speechless with -admiration and delight. - -"Oh, well said!" Alice whispered. - -Gwen and Stella hugged each other and Gladys danced a little jig. - -"I declare, I love those children!" Poppy exclaimed. - -"They're _my_ twins, I'd have you remember," Sally exulted. - -They looked back again to the piazza. Ethel had gone and the twins were -strolling arm-in-arm over the green lawn. - - - - -CHAPTER VII--Poetry and Prose - - -Janet ran down the hall, waving a letter over her head. - -"Sally, Phyllis, where are you?" she called. - -The door of Sally's room opened, and Prue came out carrying a drawer -piled high with clothes. - -"Hello there!" she called. "Come and help me move." - -"Oh, then you know Daphne is coming? I just had a letter from her and -I'm trying to find Sally and Phyllis," Janet replied, taking one end of -the heavy drawer. - -"You'll find them all in there." Prue nodded her head towards the door -she had just left. "They are stuffing my peanut butter, eating my -crackers and making fun of my poetry." - -"Why, Prue, I didn't know you wrote," Janet exclaimed. - -"I don't," Prue told her; "that is, not for publication, but every once -in a while I put things down on paper and somehow or other they rhyme." - -"Why didn't you show me any of them?" - -"They weren't good enough. I'd never have let those wild Indians see -them. Just as I was packing, my notebook fell out of my desk, and a lot -of papers I had in it, scattered to the floor. And, of course, Sally -pounced on them." - -"Poor Prue," Janet sympathized. - -They were walking slowly down the hall carrying the drawer between them. - -"Oh, that's not the worst of it; as I told you, they are eating my food -and laughing at my most beautiful thoughts, and to think I'm going to -room with Glad and Ann. I suppose I'll have no peace." - -"Better start writing poetry about them and their pet failings," Janet -suggested. "If you wrote an ode to the freckles on Glad's nose, she'd -probably keep very still in the future." - -"Oh, good idea! I'll do that very thing!" Prue exclaimed. - -They reached the room at the end of the hall and Prue paused to open the -door. - -"The Countess's Room," she announced. - -"Oh, what a nice name. I didn't know you called it that." - -"We don't, but Miss Hull does," Prue corrected. "You see the beautiful -Countess de Something Something, Camier, I think it was, came to visit -Colonel Hull, and she had this room; so it's been called her room ever -since. - -"Oh, I think that's awfully nice; Phyllis will be crazy about it. Wonder -who slept in our room?" - -Janet looked around the big room with interest. It was plenty large -enough to accommodate three beds. Two of them were cots, the third was -an enormous four-poster. It looked worthy indeed to be the couch of a -Countess. She was so busy exclaiming over the tester, with its glazed -chintz ruffle, that she did not see the sudden gleam in Prue's eye. She -even forgot to make any more inquiries about the possible celebrity that -had slept in her own room. - -They dumped the contents of the drawer onto the bed and then carried it -empty back to Sally's room. - -As they paused at the door, a shout of laughter greeted them, and they -heard Glad exclaim: - -"Oh, do listen to this," she cried: "'The smoky darkness of a rich -Egyptian night.'" - -Prue walked into the room, followed by Janet. - -"Prue, dear, didn't you mean a Pittsburgh night?" Ann asked provokingly -as she finished spreading a cracker with as much peanut butter as it -could hold. - -Prue did not deign a reply. Instead she swooped down upon the -unsuspecting Ann and took her carefully spread cracker away from her. - -"Peanut butter is bad for freckles, darling," she said without a trace -of ill-humor in her voice. "Prue will eat it." - -There was a scuffle and the cracker was eventually ground under -somebody's heel. When peace was restored, Janet flourished her letter -once more above her head. - -"From Daphne?" Phyl cried, recognizing the writing. - -"Yes; she's coming today, but how did you find it out?" - -"Miss Hull called me down after mail, and told me," Sally explained. -"She gets in about five-thirty, just in time for dinner." - -"Oh, I wish we could go to the station," Janet exclaimed. - -"Afraid we can't do that," Sally replied, "but we can go down to the -gate." - -"Oh, good! Then when we see her carriage we can hop aboard," Phyllis -said. - -"To think she'd really be here tonight!" Janet cried. "Funny, beautiful -Taffy." - -"Do tell us about her," Gladys demanded. - -"Yes, do," Ann and Prue echoed. - -The three girls looked at each other. - -"You tell them, Sally," Janet said, but Sally shook her head. - -"No, Jan, Taffy's more yours than ours," she replied, and Phyllis -nodded. - -"Go ahead," she encouraged. "If we were talking about Sally I'd be -spokesman." - -"Preserve my character," laughed Sally. - -"Oh, don't worry; they'd never learn the truth from me," Phyllis said -airily. - -"We know all there is to know about Sally," Prue exclaimed. - -"Yes, Jan, tell us about this Daphne. She has a lovely name," Ann added. - -"Well, it exactly suits her," Janet began, "only we call her Taffy -because she has a mop of hair that looks exactly like taffy candy, the -rich yellow kind, and her eyes are green, just the color of the sea, -when you look straight down into it on a misty day, and her cheeks are -like rose petals, not bright pink, but a soft, delicate tint, and her -cheeks are ivory white, like cream. She has long slender hands and the -most wonderful voice you ever heard; it's soft and furry; she always -drawls; in fact, Taffy always looks and talks as if she were half -asleep. Her eyelashes are so long and heavy that they almost cover her -eyes. When she opens them wide she looks as if she were surprised at -what she saw. She's got the keenest sense of humor you ever heard of, -and when she says a thing it sounds twice as funny as if anyone else had -said it, because of her queer little laugh." - -Janet stopped and looked suddenly very self-conscious while the girls -looked at her with a new expression in their eyes. - -"Why, Jan," Prue exclaimed. "You're a poet." - -"I feel as if I'd been listening to a fairy story," Gladys said. - -"With the lovely Daphne as the enchanted princess," Ann added dreamily. - -"I never realized before how really lovely Daphne was," Sally laughed. -"Honestly, Jan, I felt as if she was here in the room as you talked." - -Phyllis said nothing. She was curled up on one end of the bed, her head -against Sally's pillows, her arms stretched above her. Her face wore an -expression of pride and ownership, but not surprise. Janet was her twin, -and everything Janet did was perfect in her eyes. When other girls -admired her, too, Phyllis just sat back and smiled contentedly. - -"You'll make a great old quartette," Gladys laughed. - -"Sort of a mutual admiration society," Prue added. - -"Phyl, I'd think you'd be jealous of this Daphne," Ann laughed. "Won't -your nose be out of joint when she arrives?" - -The twins stared at her in blank amazement. - -"Jealous!" they said together. "Why, how perfectly silly." - -"You might as well say that I might be jealous of Sally," Janet -chuckled. - -"No," Phyllis shook her head, "Jan and I couldn't possibly be jealous. -We're twins, you see." - -The little phrase ended all argument and doubt as it always did. The -girls realized with something of a start how close the bond between them -was, and they felt a glow of pride around their hearts. Affection like -this was worthy of a place at Hilltop, and could be pointed out with -pride. - -"My Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot!" Sally exclaimed, jumping up. "Look at the -time," and she held out her wrist watch. "Ten minutes past five. If -we're going to meet Taffy we'd better hurry." - -They found sweaters and started off down the long avenue that lead to -the gate. - -Prue turned to Gladys and Ann. - -"Are the twins elected?" she inquired. - -"They are," they replied. "To the very heart of Hilltop," Ann added. - -They sauntered back to their room. - -"Look at my beautiful bed that a perfectly good Countess has slept in," -Gladys wailed, as she saw the contents of three drawers piled high on -the blue and white counterpane. - -"Oh, never mind that," Prue brushed some of the things aside and sat -down on the edge of the bed. - -"Speaking of Countesses," she began, "Janet wanted to know if anybody -really important had ever slept in their room, and I thought it was a -good chance for a ghost story." - -"Of course, the very thing," Gladys agreed decidedly. - -"We might as well have a good one while we're about it. You'd better -make it up, Prue," Ann suggested. - -Gladys had been gazing out of the window; she turned half way around -now. - -"Don't have to make it up," she said slowly. "There's a perfect -cracker-jack about a pretty lady popping off the balcony when they -brought in her lover who had been shot in a duel." - -"Which balcony was it?" Prue demanded. - -Gladys's eyes twinkled. "Well, it might just as well have been theirs," -she said. - -The other two nodded in understanding. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--More Twins - - -The twins and Sally were breathless when they reached the gate, but they -were in time to see two carriages coming down the turnpike. - -"Two carriages!" Phyllis exclaimed. - -"Maybe they're not both for here," Janet replied. - -Sally smiled a broad smile. - -"Oh, but they are," she said. - -"What's the mystery?" Phyllis demanded. - -"Wait and see," was all the satisfaction Sally would give them. - -They watched the carriages as they crawled along. The little station of -Hillsdale did not boast taxicabs, but contented itself to the -old-fashioned surreys driven by talkative old negroes. - -At last the first carriage turned in at the gate and the girls saw -Daphne and her mother sitting on the back seat. They jumped on the -steps, and Phyllis climbed in beside the driver. - -Daphne at their unexpected appearance was so delighted that she fairly -danced, and Mrs. Hillis, who had feared Daphne's silence on the way up -from the station was the first sign of homesickness, was relieved. - -Daphne had tight hold of Janet's hand. A year ago she had understood, -when things looked very black for Phyllis's twin. And now the tables -were turned, and in this new world of boarding school she looked to -Janet. - -Janet gave her hand a tight squeeze. - -"Taffy, it's so good to see you," she said. - -"At first we were just sick that you couldn't come with us, but really, -it's more fun this way," Phyllis turned around in her seat as she spoke -and saw the other carriage still following. - -"Why, look," she said. "That is coming here, too." But Sally interrupted -her. - -"The twins are regular old girls now at Hilltop," she said to Daphne. -"Oh, isn't it great we're all four together!" - -Mrs. Hillis smiled. Her laugh was a little like Daphne's. - -"How happy you girls are," she said. "I was a little worried about -Daphne's coming so far away from home, but now I know Mrs. Ladd was -right. I can see by your faces that Hilltop is a vast improvement over -Miss Harding's." - -The girls nodded an eager agreement. - -"Here we are!" Sally exclaimed excitedly as they drew up before the -steps. - -"What a beautiful place!" Mrs. Hillis said warmly. - -"Don't you feel like the President in the White House when you walk up -and down these steps?" Daphne drawled. - -"Well, you do feel awfully important," Janet agreed. - -A maid met them at the door and took Daphne's bag. - -"If you all-ll come dis way, I'll show you just where to go," she said. - -Mrs. Hillis and Daphne followed her, and the girls waited in the square -hall. - -"Who under the sun is in that next carriage?" Janet demanded. - -"Wait and see," Sally replied provokingly. - -"Oh, I know," Phyllis exclaimed. "It's another new girl. She's going to -be in the new wing. I heard Kitty and Alice talking about it in history -class today. - -"Indeed," Sally asked politely. - -The maid came back just as the other carriage stopped. A man and two -girls got out and came up the steps. Sally clutched each of the twins by -an arm and pulled them in to a sheltering window recess. - -"Now don't scream when you see what's coming," she whispered. - -The maid was taking the bags. They could hear the man's voice asking for -Miss Hull. The twins looked out from their hiding place. - -Two girls stood in the doorway; the old lantern that swung from the -porch illuminated their faces. They had red hair and they were dressed -exactly alike. - -"Twins!" Janet exclaimed in a muffled voice, and Phyllis looked -bewildered. - -[Illustration: _"Twins!" Janet exclaimed in a muffled voice_] - -"Isn't it a lark?" Sally demanded. "The minute the old wing gets a pair -of twins the new one has to follow suit." - -They heard Daphne's voice and saw her with her mother and Miss Hull -coming down the hall. They went forward to meet them as the new twins -and their father followed the maid in the same direction, and under the -center light exactly in the middle of the hall they all met. - -All four twins looked at each other. Janet and Phyllis saw that their -rivals were easily distinguishable one from the other. For although -their faces were exactly alike, one was considerably stouter than the -other. - -It was Miss Hull's low musical laugh that broke the awkward silence. - -"How did our little surprise turn out, Sally?" she asked. - -"Oh, beautifully, Miss Hull," Sally laughed. "Jan and Phyl never guessed -for a minute." - -Miss Hull smiled delightedly and turned to the gentleman who was waiting -for her. - -"Mr. Ward," she said, holding out her hand. - -Mr. Ward scowled. - -"Yes'm. They're my twins; May and Bess," his abrupt way of speaking -contrasted oddly with his southern voice. "If you can take them right -now and let me get back and catch that next train for town I'll be -mighty obliged. I kept the carriage waiting." - -"Certainly, Mr. Ward," Miss Hull replied, "You go right on. We'll take -care of May and Bess." - -Mr. Ward bowed over her hand for a brief moment, nodded to his daughters -and strolled out of the front door. - -The Ward twins's faces relaxed and they smiled. It was easy to see that -their father's departure was a relief rather than a sorrow. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--A Question of Names - - -"May and Bess are to be in the new wing," Miss Hull said. "Will you -girls take them upstairs when you are going up with Daphne and find some -of the girls on their corridor. Alice and Kitty will take good care of -them, I am sure. Mrs. Hillis and I are going to have a little chat until -dinner." - -She dismissed the girls with a nod. Sally turned to Bess Ward. - -"Will you come along?" she said, "and we'll find Alice and Kitty." - -"Are you two going to room together?" Phyllis inquired. - -Janet was walking with Daphne. She had gotten as far away as possible -from the new twins, for she instinctively disliked them on sight. - -"I should say we're not," Bess, the fatter of the two, replied. "May and -I were figuring to see as little of each other as possible." - -"But why?" Phyllis demanded, surprised. - -"Reckon we're not dying of love for each other," May explained calmly. -"You being a twin could understand, I guess." - -"We can't understand any such thing," Janet suddenly flared up. - -They were on the stairs and they all stopped to turn and look at her. - -"Phyl never wants to be away from me," she continued, her cheeks hot in -anger. - -"I don't hear Phyl agreein' with you," May remarked. - -It was Phyllis's turn to be angry. The color left her cheeks and her -eyes flashed dangerously. - -"No need of my saying anything for people to know that I agree with my -twin," she said coldly. "We always agree on every subject," and she -walked upstairs the rest of the way in silence with her head up in the -air. - -The new twins exchanged glances. - -"What did you say anything for?" Bess asked sulkily. - -"Oh, keep still," May replied. - -When they reached the new wing, Sally was glad to turn them over to -Kitty and Alice. The news had circulated that there were to be twins for -the new wing, and the girls had collected to welcome them. It is only -truthful to say that their faces fell at the first glance. Beside -Phyllis and Janet, the new twins did not show promise of adding greatly -to the new wing. - -"Phew! I'm glad that's over!" Sally sat down on her bed and pulled -Daphne down beside her. - -Phyllis sat in a big chair and Janet perched on the arm of her chair. - -"They haven't any right to be twins," Daphne's drawl held a note of -decision, "and they really don't look alike either." - -"They're perfectly horrid," Janet replied vehemently. - -"I wish they'd leave Hilltop," Phyllis added. - -Sally said nothing for the moment, but she looked very wise. - -"A penny for your thoughts, Sally," Phyllis offered. - -Sally came back from her dreaming with a little start. - -"I was only wondering what they'd be like in six months," she said -slowly. - -"Horrid," said Janet without a moment's hesitation. - -Sally smiled. "That's how little you know of Hilltop," she said. - -"Oh, who cares what they're like!" Phyllis laughed. "They're in the new -wing and we're in the old. All that matters is that Daphne's here, and -we four are together again." - -Daphne gave a queer little laugh. - -"It's pretty wonderful," she admitted, "to find you all just the same. I -was afraid that perhaps Sally had found a new pal, and that perhaps you -two have discovered some other girls. It rather worried me." - -The rest laughed, and Janet said: - -"Taffy, my darling, you were growing an imagination. You kill it before -it becomes dangerous." - -Snatches of a song came to them from the hall and Sally jumped up and -ran to the door. - -"Come in, you three," she called. - -Prue, Ann and Gladys entered. - -"We thought we would let you have the first few minutes in peace," Prue -began, but Ann went straight to Daphne and held out her hand. - -"You're the very princess come to life," she said. "And we're awfully -glad to welcome you at Hilltop." - -"We thought Janet was making you up," Gladys added, "but we see she -wasn't." She smiled her roguish smile at Daphne. - -"Indeed, we are glad to welcome you to Hilltop," Prue held out her hand, -"and specially glad for the old wing." - -"We've been looking over the new twins and I can't say that they are -very exciting. All they did was to scrap," Ann remarked. - -"Oh, dear!" Phyllis sighed. "I suppose now they'll be the new twins, and -we'll be the old twins." - -Gladys looked at her and shook her head very slowly. - -"They will not," she said emphatically. "For I have already named them -the Red Twins, and Red Twins they shall be," she ended triumphantly. - -She was right. The girls had always followed her lead, and they followed -it faithfully in the naming of the Red Twins, and Janet and Phyllis, to -the old wing's secret satisfaction, remained always The Twins. - - - - -CHAPTER X--The Parrot Is Consulted - - -"Nice poll, pretty poll!" Gladys stood by Sally's window, where the -girls had decided that Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot lived in a magic cage. - -"Polly want a cracker?" she continued coaxingly. - -"What are you flattering my Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot for?" Sally demanded -with dignity. - -"I want to find out if I'm going to make the Archery Contest tomorrow," -Gladys replied, "and I don't know anybody but Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot -that can tell me." - -"You might ask her about the rest of us," Prue suggested, and Gladys -turned back to the window. - -"How about Prue, Polly?" she inquired seriously. - -"... Oh, is that so?" - -"... Well, perhaps you're right." - -"... Very well, I'll tell her." - -She turned back to the laughing group of girls. - -"Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot says that Prue couldn't hit the side of a barn -door, and he advises her to serve lemonade on the side lines." - -Prue sniffed contemptuously. - -"Just to show you that that bird is a fraud, I'll make a bull's-eye -tomorrow." - -A shout greeted her threat. Prue had never even hit the target, but -every year she tried again, for the hope that she might some day make -the archery team for the old wing burned bright in her heart. - -"What's the gossip about the new wing?" Ann inquired. "It would be -simply terrible if they got the cup this year." - -Gladys frowned and shook her fist at imaginary Polly. - -"That's the trouble with the new wing," she said. "They're so beastly -efficient, and they really have good material to work with." - -"Meaning that we haven't?" Ann inquired indignantly. - -"No, but they have six in the old team back this year, and we have only -three. Gwen's really upset about it. Of course, as captain of sports, -she has to be neutral, but everybody knows she wants the old wing to get -it." - -"I heard the Red Twins bragging awfully," Daphne said. She had been at -Hilltop for a week now and had found her place already. She was so -thoroughly likeable that the girls gave her their instant affection. -"The twins and Taffy are just like old girls," was a constant phrase. - -"Were there ever two girls as bumptious as those two?" Gladys demanded. - -Ann looked up with a twinkle in her eye. - -"I know of only one other," she replied. "She was an impudent little -wretch, named Gladys Manners." - -"Hum, I knew you were going to say that," Gladys replied, her temper not -one bit ruffled. "And it's almost true. I was an awful smarty, but then -I was only ten years old." - -"And it didn't take you long to reform, I'll say that for you," Ann -admitted. - -"It couldn't have, because butter wouldn't melt in her mouth my first -year," Prue laughed at a sudden memory now two years old. "If I even -raised my voice above a whisper, the little imp would remind me that I -was a new girl, and here I was a whole year older than she was." - -"Mercy, we must be careful, Jan," Phyllis said, and Janet nodded. - -"Do you suppose we've been here long enough to call Taffy down if she's -noisy?" she inquired. "I'd just love to call Taffy down." - -Daphne's cool gaze rested on Janet, then she laughed her funny little -laugh. - -"Guess I'll have to stay through the Christmas vacation to get even with -you," she drawled. - -"You'll do nothing of the kind," Sally protested. "I just had a letter -from mother today and she says she's planning with Auntie Mogs Carter -the most scrumptious Christmas Eve party, and I'd like to see you dare -stay away from it." - -Gladys turned back to the window and her private conversation with Aunt -Jane's Poll-parrot. - -"Why, Poll, you never told me that New York girls gave parties," she -complained. - -But the New York girls were too busy discussing Mrs. Ladd's letter to -notice her. - -"Merciful gumption!" Phyl exclaimed a few minutes later. "There goes -sweet dreams." - -The others stopped to listen. From the farthest end of the hall came the -soft chimes of the grandfather clock. The little melody sounded like a -slumber song, and the girls all called it sweet dreams. - -"I thought it was about eight o'clock," Ann protested. "I haven't even -looked at my history." - -"Well, I hate to be inhospitable," Sally said, "but I must set the -example to Taffy; she's a new girl, you know." - -"You never would know it," Prue said with a little smile. "Taffy and the -twins are part of the spirit at Hilltop, and have been for centuries. -Who dares to call them new?" - -"Very prettily said, Prue darling," Sally laughed. "But, out you go, -just the same and seek your own little beds." - -Gladys put her arm protectingly around Prue. - -"Never mind, lamb child. You can come and orate to your two -long-suffering room-mates." - -They all left the room, finishing their good-nights in the hall. - -The twins went straight to bed. Each night at Hilltop saw them -thoroughly but happily tired out. - -"Do you think the Red Twins have a chance?" Phyllis inquired sleepily. - -"Awfully afraid they have," Janet answered. "I saw them practicing -today, and they made awfully good scores." - -"Well, cheer up, perhaps they'll be nervous tomorrow, with the entire -school looking on." - -A muffled chuckle came from the depth of Janet's pillow. - -"What are you laughing at?" Phyllis demanded. - -"The idea of the Red Twins being fussed by anything. Why those girls -have got the assurance of Diana herself. I wish you could see them -string their bows." - -"The responsibility of being the twins for the old wing is growing -daily," Phyllis laughed. "I'm worse than Prue when it comes to a -straight eye, so I suppose we're doomed for one defeat." - -"We're doomed for no such thing," Janet denied hotly. - -But an inarticulate murmur was all the response she received from -Phyllis. - -"Oh, go to sleep then, lazy bones!" she said, and snuggled deeper into -her pillow. - -She was soon dreaming that the Red Twins were making bull's-eyes with -every arrow that they loosed. - -When the sun, red gold in his morning splendor, sent his first shafts -through the woods, throwing queer patterns on the green lawn, he -surprised two girls, busy with their bows and arrows. They had flaming -red hair, and the sun always jealous of competition scowled behind a -tiny white cloud. - - - - -CHAPTER XI--The Archery Contest - - -On the day of the Archery Contest, lessons stopped at noon at Hilltop. -By two o'clock all the girls were assembled on the south lawn. They all -wore immaculate white dresses, that contrasted prettily with the autumn -colors. A stack of bows, their strings loosened, stood against the bench -near the target and a heap of feathered arrows lay on the ground. - -Under the shade of a big tree, the score board flashed forth in white -letters, "Archery Day." - -Forty girls were competing. You could pick them out from among the -others by their eager expectant expression. - -The faculty in the daintiest of gowns were making the guests, who had -driven in from all around the countryside, as comfortable as possible in -the grey wicker chairs that had been brought down from the school, and -placed in a half circle back of the shooters. They came because they -loved the pretty sight of the girls in their white dresses on the green -lawn, with the old mansion as a background, rather than for any real -interest in Archery. - -There were tables under the trees, where, after the contest, lemonade -would be served to the girls, and tea to the guests and faculty. - -Prue at the last moment had decided not to enter. - -"Why swell the number of the old wing failures?" she said to Gwen, and -Gwen nodded, fully conscious of the sacrifice she was making; and to -repay her for it, she made her official score-keeper. - -The twins, with Sally and Daphne, and Gladys and Ann, formed a little -group with her around the board. - -"Prue, if I make a score, will you please write it very large?" Phyllis -requested. "I don't expect to make more than one, and it would be a -comfort really to see it." - -"I'm as nervous as a cat," Sally shivered. "I have a horrible feeling -that the old wing is going to lose." - -"Oh, don't even breathe it!" Gladys wailed. "The very idea makes me turn -cold all over." - -"My hands are icy," Ann held them out for inspection. They were -beautiful hands, firm and capable, but they trembled ever so slightly. - -Gwen and Poppy joined them. - -"I declare you all look like picked chickens," Poppy protested, "I never -saw the old wing hang its head so low." - -The girls straightened up, every chin lifted with determination. - -"That's better," Gwen encouraged. "If you feel like dropping them again, -just look at the new wing." - -"The Red Twins are positively walking on air," Sally ground her teeth -and looked appealingly at Phyllis. - -Phyllis put up one hand in entreaty. - -"Don't look at me like that," she entreated. "I'm only in the contest -because you and Jan insisted. I won't even hit the target, and I know -it." - -"Never mind, I will," Janet comforted; "though, of course, we won't beat -the Red Twins." - -"I've put them together, and Phyllis and you directly after," Gwen -explained; "then you'll see what you're up against. It isn't as bad as -it looks. We still have Agnes Leiter, Puss Boroughs, and Poppy, all last -year's team girls, and Marion West has been practicing all summer. She -only missed out by a point for the team last year. Then there are a -couple of Juniors, that have belonged to archery clubs at home, so we -may pull through." - -"But look what we're up against," Gladys groaned. - -A bell tinkled as Miss Hull walked out of the hall, a soft grey dress -floating about her, and a shade hat on her aristocratic head. It was a -signal for the contest to begin. - -Gwen had arranged the order cleverly. The girls who had been on the team -the year before were played off first. As there were six to three in -favor of the new wing, the score looked very one-sided, as Prue marked -it on the board. - -Then came the younger girls, who stood very little chance of scoring the -required six points. They were worked off quickly, and then the real -work began. Two girls from the new wing, would alternate with two girls -from the old wing. Cheering followed every score, so that it was -impossible to tell which side was ahead. - -"Ann, you're up after Kitty," Gwen said as she hurried by. "Mind, you do -us proud." - -"Do my best," Ann replied shortly. She was working her fingers to take -some of the stiffness out of them. - -Kitty took her place marked by white tape. - -"She's too little to be really dangerous," Phyllis laughed, as she -strung her bow. - -Kitty shot rapidly, but with a nice precision. Only one of her arrows -went astray, and that pinned the leg in the target. - -The other four hit. Two on the white, counting two, one on the red, -counting three. Kitty waited an effective moment before she loosed the -fifth. - -"Make it a bulls-eye," one of the Red Twins shouted. - -The arrow went its way through the air, and bore deep into the broad red -circle. - -"Making eight in all," Prue said in satisfaction. "Ann will do better -than that." - -"Look," Sally pointed across the lawn, where the Red Twins were sitting, -their special bows lying across their knees. Kitty and Louise Brown were -swooping down upon them. - -"Don't you ever do that again, Bess," Kitty said angrily. "If you have -any silly advice, and you feel you must yell it out, you're to wait -until the player has finished. Do you understand?" - -"I told her to keep still," May grumbled, "but she wouldn't do it." - -"You see that she does next time," Louise advised. - -The girls walked on. Their lecture had made no impression whatever on -Bess Ward. She tossed her head with a great show of indifference, and -started whistling. - -"Yes, she's decidedly bumptious," Gladys said quietly, as Ann rose to -take her place. "If she so much as breathes aloud, when you're up, I'll -murder her," and Gladys fastened her eyes on the Red Twins, and looked -so threatening, that Bess squirmed uncomfortably. - -Ann did everything that she did methodically, and though her hands may -have been cold, none of the onlookers, who watched her carefully string -her bow and fit her arrow, guessed it. - -"Don't watch her, it gives her fits," Prue whispered almost in tears. - -So the girls directed their gaze towards the target. One arrow whanged -through the air and hit the red, so near to the bulls-eye, that the -spectators gasped. Another arrow fell just beside it. The third pinned -the blue, and the fourth and fifth returned to the red, in a little -cluster. - -"Fourteen, oh my Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot!" Sally exclaimed. "How -perfectly beautiful!" - -"I knew she'd do it," Prue exulted, as she wrote the number down, in -broad white letters. - -"Your turn, Sally," Gladys said. "You've got Louise's twelve to beat." - -Sally groaned, but when she took her place, her wonderful blue eyes -blazed from their setting of raven hair. - -Four arrows sped through the air in quick succession. Sally did -everything with a rush. The girls counted the total. - -"Eleven," Phyllis groaned. - -"If the next one is wide of the target----" Gladys did not finish the -terrible thought. - -They looked at Sally. She didn't look a bit flustered, but for some -reason or other, she was taking her time. - -Then she did a curious thing, but a thing so like Sally that neither the -girls nor the faculty could repress a smile. - -She suddenly closed her eyes very tight, and without taking aim, let go -of her arrow. - -"Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot!" Gladys whispered, as though she were praying -the mythical bird to carry the arrow safe to the target. - -Daphne put her hands over her eyes, and didn't take them down until the -shout that rose high and clear told her that Sally's blind shot had -found its way home. - -"A blue!" Janet almost screamed. "Just one point more than she needed to -beat Louise." - -Sally threw down her bow, and came back to them. - -"So much for that," she said grinning. - -"Sally Ladd, I declare you're a caution!" Poppy squeezed her hand. -"Whatever made you take such a terrible chance, child?" - -"Oh, life's a chance," Sally replied airily. "When I'm in a hole, I -always trust in my luck, and it never fails me." - -From that minute "Sally's luck" was added to the phrases of Hilltop. - - - - -CHAPTER XII--Janet to the Rescue - - -Daphne was the next up, after two more new wing girls had made -creditable scores. - -"She looks like Diana herself," Miss Hull said, to the old gentleman who -was sitting beside her, and indeed Daphne's beauty never showed to such -advantage, as when she stood beside her bow. But alas! looks are not -everything. Although the beautiful curve of Daphne's arm, covered by its -sheer angel sleeve, was grace itself, the refractory arrows fell almost -anywhere but on the target. Only one struck home, and marked the red. - -"Three," Prue wrote the number down slowly. - -"What a pity!" Miss Hull said, but she noted Daphne's cheerful little -smile, and nodded to herself. "Sally Ladd has very good taste in -friends," she said, as her eyes traveled to the Twins, and then back to -Daphne. - -"Can't say I made a very brilliant success," Daphne was saying, and she -threw herself down on the grass beside Janet. - -"Well, one landed, and it was a red anyway," Janet tried to be -consoling. - -"And that's more than many of the new girls have made," Sally added. - -"I'll be with you in a minute, Taffy," Phyllis laughed. "Just wait until -the Red Twins have had their turn." - -"Hush, here they come now," Gladys cautioned. - -A silence fell on the spectators as they awaited the victory of the new -wing. Even the faculty felt it, and though they tried to be happy, they -were conscious of a persistent little feeling of disappointment. - -Bess Ward was the first one up. She shrugged her shoulders just to show -she was not in the least nervous, then she strung her bow, struck a -rather extravagant attitude, and loosed her first arrow. - -She made a red. A faint cheer followed it. - -The Red Twins were far from popular with their own wing, but anything or -anybody that could enlarge the score was welcome. - -"Not so good," Ann said critically, as the second arrow glanced off and -hit the white. - -A slow red mounted to Bess's cheek. She was angry, that unpardonable sin -in any sport, and she showed it. The third arrow went to the blue. Bess -forgot to shrug her shoulders. Her anger was steadily mounting, and the -next two arrows followed each other to the red, making a total score of -twelve. - -Prue marked it down on the board very slowly, and very deliberately. - -"Hope her twin does no better," Gladys said. "But I suppose she will." - -"One of them has got to make a bulls-eye, after all their boasting," Ann -laughed. "Look, there she comes." - -May took her place at the tape. She was considerably sobered by her -sister's failure. She did not shrug her shoulders, but went to her bow -with a dark scowl. - -Her first arrow hit the blue. She stopped to readjust her bow, before -fitting in the second arrow, but the blue claimed that as well. Really -angry now, she shot the third with such a vicious whang, that the arrow -glanced off to the white. - -"Take your time," her sister cautioned from the side line. Her tone held -a note of resentment. - -May pulled herself together, and took deliberate aim. Two blues were her -award. - -"Making a total of nine," Prue said as she drew an extra long stem to -the figure. - -"Jan, if you go in, and get a half-way decent score, and Phyl does, too, -we won't be so badly licked after all," Gladys said. - -Janet nodded. There was a lump in her throat and she could not trust -herself to speak. - -"If I don't stop trembling, my arrows will land over there among the -faculty," Phyl pointed to the right of the target, where the faculty sat -out of range of any but the wildest shot. - -Daphne looked at her, and saw that she really was trembling. - -"Well, goodness knows I love all the faculty at Hilltop," she said in -her peculiar drawl. "But if you must shoot one of them, please choose -Miss Jenks, for I haven't my history prepared for tomorrow." - -The one thing that Phyllis needed was to laugh, and she did heartily, -with the result that when she took her place at the tape, her nerves -were steadied, and her thoughts were on Daphne's last remark. She could -see Miss Jenks out of the corner of her right eye. She hardly gave the -target a thought, until her arrow was in her bow. - -Her total score was five, for though she did some fancy shooting, around -the legs of the target, only two of her arrows scored. - -She came back to the girls, a little crestfallen. - -"You mean thing!" Daphne said, "you made two more than I did." - -Phyllis smiled in spite of herself. - -"It's a secret, Taffy, but I'll tell you," she whispered. "That last one -was a mistake." - -"Good luck, Jan!" Sally called softly, as Janet went out to take her -place. Her silence seemed to envelope her as she stood facing the -target, and the bow felt strange to her touch. - -She had practiced a good deal during the past few weeks, but mindful of -her brother Tom and the wisdom of her boy friends, she had rested for -the past two days, content only to keep her hand in. In this she had the -advantage of the Red Twins, who had practiced for two hours, before -breakfast. - -She felt as though she were taking a very long time, as she strung her -bow, and fitted her first arrow, and then she shot. - -She had aimed for the bulls-eye, but the grass under her feet, worn by -so many tennis shoes, was slippery. Her heel twisted ever so slightly, -and the arrow scored a red. - -The girls shouted their appreciation, but before they could stop, -another arrow had hit this time, just below the bulls-eye, making one -above, and one below. Janet shifted her position ever so slightly, and a -third arrow almost touched the bulls-eye on another side. - -The fourth completed the square; then Janet did the most spectacular -thing, done that afternoon. She scored a perfect bulls-eye. The school, -united in its admiration, went wild with joy, and the old man, sitting -beside Miss Hull, shouted, "Well done, little lady, well done!" - -[Illustration: _Then Janet did the most spectacular thing done that -afternoon_] - -Janet was born high on the shoulders of the delighted girls, a happy, -triumphant, but very much bewildered heroine. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII--Diverse Paths - - -It took the school, and particularly the old wing, several weeks to -recover from the result of the contest. Janet, much to her surprise, -remained a heroine, and was not forgotten after the flush of the first -few days, but she was not happy. - -Phyllis, after her failure on Archery Day, had steadfastedly refused to -have anything more to do with the sport, and half the pleasure of the -prospect of making the team was gone, when Janet realized that Phyllis -would not be with her. Daphne, too, refused to show any interest, and it -was Sally that Janet spent most of her time with, practicing before the -target. - -They were coming up from the lawn this afternoon. The warm days of late -summer had chilled with the coming of Autumn, and in the late afternoon -the girls found sweaters comfortable. - -When they reached the lower hall they met Ethel Rivers. She was still -incorrigible on the subject of the wings. - -"I hope you know, that even if you did beat us at Archery, we're going -to win out in Dramatics." - -"Win in anything your little heart wants," Sally laughed; "the old wing -is never selfish." - -"Well, you just wait and see," Ethel began angrily, but she turned -suddenly to Janet and stopped. "I've--I've--wanted to congratulate you -for a long time," she said shyly. She was the same age as the two girls -before her, but a class below. She was feeling the difference acutely. - -"Thanks awfully," Janet was almost as embarrassed as she was. She was -trying hard not to feel her position as a future member of the team, but -it was difficult when girls like Ethel forgot their feeling of animosity -long enough to offer congratulations. - -Without realizing it Janet mounted the pedestal of a personage. - -"I--I--really thought you were wonderful," Ethel continued grudgingly, -"and I'm not a bit sorry, really, that you beat our twins." - -"That's awfully decent of you Ethel. I'm glad to see you're coming -around to the right way of thinking. Mustn't take the rivalry of the -wings too seriously, you know. Come down to target practice some day, -while I'm there, and I'll show you how to fix your arrow. I saw you were -having trouble with it." And Janet walked up the broad stairs, her head -held high, as a queen might have walked on after she had spoken to her -humble courtier. - -But when they reached Sally's room and she threw herself down on the -bed, her face suddenly fell. - -"Sally," she said seriously. "I think Phyl is a little hurt that I spend -so much time away from her. She's going to hate it if I make the team, -so I think, if I am elected, I'll refuse." - -Sally whistled then she looked seriously at Janet. - -"You are going to do nothing of the kind, if I can help it," she said -emphatically, "but we won't talk about it now. Let's go find Phyl and -Taffy." - -They went over to the Twin's room, but there was no sign of them. - -"Maybe Glad'll know where they are," Sally suggested. - -But they found Prue and Ann and Gladys cheerfully munching crackers and -peanut butter, as they studied their English for the next day. - -"Come and join us," Ann invited shoving forward the peanut butter. -"We've got a marvelous system. Prue reads aloud to us and then we -discuss it." - -"You might as well join us," Gladys suggested. "We've only just -started." - -"We're looking for Daphne and Phil," Sally replied. - -"Oh, you won't find them," Gladys told her. "They're down in the -Senior's Retreat." - -"What under the sun are they doing down there?" Janet demanded. - -"Dramatic Club," Prue said solemnly. "Shakespeare meeting and all that -sort of thing." - -Sally and Janet looked at each other in bewilderment. "How did they get -down there? They aren't Juniors or Seniors," Sally protested. - -"Can't help it, Miss Slocum sent their names in to Poppy as shining -lights in literature," Ann replied. "And Poppy, of course, was tickled -to death." - -"So was Helen Jenkins, by the way," Prue added. "She's really the brains -of the club, while Poppy's the looks." - -"And they're both Old Wing Girls," Gladys exulted. "Just imagine how -they feel at the idea of letting in two Sophomores! - -"But it's unheard of," Sally objected, "don't you have to be a Junior at -least, before you're eligible?" - -"'Tisn't a rule, it's simply a custom," Ann told her. "It just never -happened before, that the Sophomores showed very much brains." - -"But, oh my beloved hearers!" Gladys exclaimed excitedly, "can't you see -that our Phyllis and our Taffy may be the brilliant exceptions?" - -Janet had looked wonderingly from one to the other of the girls. - -"You don't mean Phil and Taffy could possibly make the Dramatic Club?" -she asked at length. - -"But I exactly do mean just that," Gladys informed her. "And, oh my Aunt -Jane's Poll-parrot, if they should, think what a victory it would be for -the Old Wing!" - -Prue picked up the book that she had been reading when Sally and Janet -interrupted her. - -"I refuse to think of it," she said with decision. "Come on, girls, sit -down and make yourselves comfy, and in my most dulcet tones I will read -to you the lesson in _Guy Mannering_ for tomorrow." - -Janet and Sally curled up on the end of the Countess's bed and Prue -began. - -It is a question whether any of the girls kept their mind on the book. -The Dramatic Club at Hilltop was a very important institution of school -life. There were hardly ever more than twelve members, and they were -chosen for a variety of reasons. The principal one was an understanding -and appreciation of literature, but equally important were good looks -and an ability to act, for the Dramatic Club gave two plays a year. They -were not the usual amateur performances, for wise Miss Slocum, with the -aid of the Seniors, chose her material carefully and trained it -exceedingly well. - -She had hesitated a long time before suggesting two Sophomores for -possible membership, but Daphne's bewildering beauty and Phyllis's apt -reading of lines finally persuaded her. - -The Juniors and Seniors had accepted this innovation of an old custom -with surprise, but, as Poppy had explained, it would not be necessary to -make a decision at once, for the Dramatic Club was never chosen until -just before the Christmas holidays. - -The girls who were interested met in the Senior Retreat twice a week and -read plays of their own or Miss Slocum's selection. The meeting was over -at six o'clock. - -Daphne and Phyllis hurried to the latter's room as quickly as possible. - -"Taffy, was there ever such luck?" Phyllis exclaimed, "wasn't it -adorable of them to let us be there!" - -"Indeed it was," Daphne agreed heartily. "And we're only new girls, too, -and that makes it all the nicer. But, Phil, what do you suppose they -really mean?" - -Phyllis shook her head and her brows puckered in a puzzled frown. - -"I wish I knew, Taffy," she replied slowly. "When I went in, Poppy -squeezed my arm and Helen Jenkins asked me how I liked the Dramatic Club -pin." - -"And when you said you loved it, she asked you how you would like to -wear one," Daphne finished for her. "I know, I heard it, and my heart -just flopped right over." - -Phyllis walked to the balcony and stood looking out over the lawn. - -"Isn't it funny the way people get jumbled up," she said musingly. "We -four haven't paired off as we ought to. It almost looks as if we had -changed partners. Just look at this afternoon. Jan and Sally were -practicing with their ever-lasting bows and arrows, and you and I were -sitting in all our glory in the midst of the Dramatic Club." - -"That's what makes us such bully good friends," Daphne explained. "It -doesn't matter which two of our four are together, they are bound to -have a good time, and the very best times of all are when we are not -paired off, but doing something that we can all enjoy." - -Phyllis nodded. "I used to think, at Miss Harding's that we weren't so -very remarkable, and that if we got away to boarding school we'd find -plenty of friendships as strong as ours----" - -"What nonsense!" Daphne interrupted, drawling the words until they held -a wealth of scorn. "Prue and Gladys and Ann are a wonderful combination -but they're not nearly as wonderful as we are," she added with her queer -little laugh. - -They both picked up books and pretended to study. - -"Taffy," Phyllis said suddenly, "it really isn't fair." There was a -little catch in her voice. - -Daphne looked up from her copy of _Guy Mannering_. "What isn't?" she -inquired. - -"My being chosen, when Janet's left out. She knows twice as much about -books as I do. Why she knew every book in _The Enchanted Kingdom_, and -she can quote poetry by the yard." - -"But she can't recite it the way you do," Daphne protested. "You read -Rosalind's lines in _As You Like It_ when we had it in class, until I -honestly thought I was in the Forest of Arden. I agree with you that Jan -loves it and appreciates it as much as you, but she reads it as though -she hated to have to share it with anybody else." - -"Perhaps you're right," Phyllis sounded only half convinced. "But I'll -tell you this, if Jan isn't elected to the Dramatic Club, I won't join -even if they ask me." - -"Oh, yes you will," Daphne drawled. Her words were almost an echo of -Sally's used earlier in the day under a similar circumstance. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV--The Story of the Two Dogs - - -That night Sally and Daphne held a council of war in their room. It -began by Sally saying: "I want to talk to you, Taffy, about something -important." To which Daphne replied, "Very well, go ahead, but remember -to ask me what I have to tell you when you finish!" - -"All right, mine's about Jan." Sally made herself comfortable in the big -chair and Daphne curled up on the window seat. "On the way back from -target practice today, she informed me that she would not be on the -team, even if she got the chance, because Phyl might be hurt." - -Instead of looking angry or concerned, as Sally expected, Daphne laughed -heartily. - -"I don't think it's funny, she really meant it," Sally protested. - -Daphne stopped laughing. "It is funny though, listen. This afternoon, -after we had come up from the Senior's Retreat, Phyl told me the same -thing." - -"But I don't understand." - -"About Jan, of course." - -"You mean she said she would be hurt if Jan did accept for the team?" - -"Oh, no, you ought to know Phyl better than that. She said she wouldn't -accept for the Dramatic Club unless Jan was asked, too. There now, what -do you think of that?" - -Sally listened and after a mystified minute understood. - -"Well, of all the ridiculous children!" she exclaimed laughing. - -"Yes, but what are we going to do about it? They simply can't be allowed -to spoil each other's chances like that," Daphne objected. - -"Oh, we can fix that, now that we know about them both," Sally -exclaimed. "Look, we'll do it this very minute." She jumped up and went -to the writing table, found a half sheet of notepaper and began to -write. - -Daphne looked over her shoulder. - -"Will that do?" Sally inquired as she finished and carefully blotted the -page. - -"Couldn't be better," Daphne laughed. "Thank goodness, you can always -depend on the Twins to see the funny side of everything." - -"I can't wait until morning to give it to them," Sally announced. She -was half undressed but she slipped into a kimono and tip-toed into the -hall. She poked the letter under the Twins's door and hurried back to -the waiting Daphne. - -"Wish I could see their faces when they read it," she said. - -Janet saw the note first. - -"What is that?" she demanded, drawing Phyllis's attention to it. - -"Looks like a letter," Phyllis replied smiling at Janet's apparent -concern. "Anyway, I don't think it's a bomb, so it might be safe to pick -it up." - -"You never can tell." Janet stood looking down at the white envelope. -"It may be a joke, and then again it may be a communication from one of -the numerous ghosts that haunt Hilltop. You'd better pick it up, Phyl." - -Phyllis leaned down and looked at the letter. "Sally's writing, so it -can't be dangerous," she said as she picked it up and opened it. - -"Oh, it's for both of us. It says: 'Read this aloud' in large letters. -Listen-- - - "Dear Twins: (she read) - - Once upon a time there were two dogs. One was an Irish terrier - and the other was a poodle, and they loved each other as only - dogs can. The Irish terrier liked to run and jump, but the - poodle liked to sit still and look very beautiful. - - One day they were both very hungry, and they both went hunting - but they did not go together. - - The Irish terrier met a kind old gentleman who offered him a - bone, but the silly dog wouldn't take it because he thought of - his friend who was so hungry, too. - - Now the poodle, on his walk, met a kind old lady, and she - offered him a nice bone, too, but he thought of the poor hungry - terrier and he refused to eat it. - - So both of those nice dogs died of hunger, because they were so - foolish, but of course it would never have happened if they had - each known that the other was being offered a bone. This tale - has a moral!" - -Janet and Phyllis looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. - -"I know what it means," Phyllis said at last. "At least I think I do." - -"Of course, it means the Archery Team and the Dramatic Club," Janet -answered. "I told Sally today that if I am elected I didn't think I'd -accept, because it would take me away from you so much." - -Phyllis' arm encircled Janet's shoulder, and she rubbed her soft cheek -against hers. - -"I told Taffy exactly the same thing about the Dramatic Club," she said, -"and of course you might know they would have a fit." - -"I didn't know about the Dramatic Club until after I'd told Sally," -Janet admitted. - -"And I didn't think about Archery when I talked to Taffy. I was just -angry at the thought of Miss Slocum choosing me when you know twice as -much," Phyllis protested. - -"But I don't," Janet denied. "Imagine my acting in anything! Why, I'd -perfectly hate it in the first place, and in the second I'd die of -fright." - -Phyllis looked at her doubtfully. She still hated the idea of being in -something that had no place for Janet. - -"Then I suppose--" she began. - -"That we may as well each eat our own bones," Janet finished laughing, -"as long as there are two of them; and after all if you should make the -Dramatic Club and I the Team it would help the old wing." - -"Yes, of course, it would," Phyllis agreed. "But you're sure you don't -care, Jan?" - -"Of course, I don't, silly. I was only afraid you might. Let's answer -Sally's letter." - -They thought for several minutes, and the final result seemed to please -them, for Janet stole softly across the hall, slipped the note under -Sally's and Daphne's door, and knocked ever so lightly, before she -hurried back. - -Sally was almost asleep, but Daphne heard the knock. She jumped up, -switched on the lights, and woke Sally. - -"The Twins's reply," she announced as she opened the note. - -"Read it quick," Sally said sleepily. - -"The Story of the Two Dogs, continued (she read). - - And so the two little dogs went home to die. But just as they - were about to draw their last breath, the nice old gentleman met - the nice old lady, and they told each other about the dogs they - had met on their walk, and about how foolish they had been. - - 'But Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot, this can't go on,' said the old - gentleman. - - 'It would be silly to let it, wouldn't it?' drawled the nice old - lady. - - 'We will go and tell them how foolish they are,' they said - together. - - So they went, and the two dogs were very glad to see them, and - when they learned that there was two bones, they jumped up and - barked, and they each promised to eat one apiece, and never - again to be so silly; because they realized that if they ate - enough bones they would grow strong, and perhaps some day they - would be a credit to the wing, it was a very old wing, of the - dog kennel where they lived." - -"The satisfying thing about the Twins is that they always do what's -expected of them," Daphne commented as she folded the note up. "The -beginning of the Two Dogs was brilliant enough but the end--" - -"The end is a masterpiece," Sally replied, now wide awake. - -"Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot marked you as the old gentleman." - -"Well, how about 'drawled the nice old lady'?" - -"Oh, it was a masterpiece all right, and I loved the touch about the -wing." Daphne went back to her own bed. - -"That, my child, is the first real stirring of the spirit of -Hilltop--loyalty. Oh, for the day when we are Seniors!" Sally yawned and -stretched her white arms high above her head. "Think of it, Taffy, -Seniors, our four!" she added drowsily, but this time Daphne was asleep. - - - - -CHAPTER XV--Making Plans - - -"Well, it would be a calamity anywhere else in the world, but nothing is -ever bad at Hilltop." Gwendolyn Matthews and Poppy were in the Twins' -room, and a crowd of girls were listening to what they had to say with -flattering attention. - -"Not even Thanksgiving away from home?" Prue demanded with a little -pout. - -It had just been decreed by Miss Hull and the faculty that there would -be no Thanksgiving recess this year. Several cases of measles had broken -out in the past week, and the school doctor had ordered a quarantine. -Such a thing had never happened before, and the seniors were doing their -best to cheer up the many disappointed girls. Gwen and Poppy had -selected Twins' room to go to first of all, for they were pretty sure -that they would find a goodly number of the girls there. - -"It's only four days, Prue," Poppy said consolingly, "and Miss Hull says -we are to have a longer Christmas vacation to make up, besides no -lessons for the four days now. You all must admit, that's fair enough." - -"Of course, it's fair," Prue agreed readily; "but, well I had a very -special engagement this Thanksgiving, and I hate to give it up." - -"I was going to visit Ann's uncle," Gladys said sadly, "and now, of -course, I can't." - -"Well, you will some other time," Prue suddenly turned cheerful. - -It is always so easy to make light of other people's disappointments, -particularly when you are comparing them with your own. They always seem -small in comparison. - -"Don't be too sure of that," Ann laughed her quiet little laugh. "Uncle -Lacey doesn't offer invitations very often, and he is not so terribly -fond of me. He's probably delighted to receive my telegram, and has -already made up his mind that he has done his duty to his sister's only -daughter, and with a sigh of relief returned to his library." - -"Poor Glad!" Sally laughed, "cruel uncle refuses second invitation and -Ann and Glad have to find other host for Christmas." Both girls lived at -a considerable distance from school. - -"Not for Christmas," Ann denied. "I am going home for that blessed day, -and so is Glad, aren't you honey?" - -"I most certainly am," Glad replied. "Christmas is one day when I must -be with my mother, not to mention my small brothers and sisters." - -"What were _you_ going to do that was so exciting, Prue?" Janet inquired -carelessly. - -"I was going to New York," Prue replied. "I have never been there in my -whole life." She spoke as though she were ninety. "And Daddy promised to -take me this year. We were going to meet my brother John, he's a -freshman at Princeton, you know," she added with pride. "And, oh dear, -we were going to have a simply wonderful time, and now just because the -Red Twins and that horrid little Ethel Rivers have the measles, I can't -go. John will be so disappointed." - -"Don't worry about brother," Gladys teased. "It's my opinion that he -will be quite relieved. Grown-up boys are never very crazy about their -baby sisters, especially when their friends are around. You know, Prue -darling, you may feel terribly grown-up, but you still wear your hair -down your back, and to boys that means you are still a babe and beneath -their notice." - -"That isn't so at all, Glad," Prue protested. "John and I have always -been the best of friends and he would like to introduce me to his -friends, I know he would." - -"John is in college now," Gladys spoke with cool and perfect assurance, -"and that makes all the difference in the world. I guess I ought to -know, I've had three brothers at Yale." - -"Perhaps that accounts for it, Yale isn't Princeton." Prue was almost in -tears but she managed to smile as she said this. - -The other girls laughed. - -"I reckon you'd better admit defeat," Poppy teased. "Prue got ahead of -you that time sure enough." - -Gladys drew herself up, and tried to make her roly-poly little self look -imposing as she replied: - -"When Prue has had as much experience with brothers as I have, she will -come to me and humbly beg my pardon and tell me I am right," she laughed -suddenly. "Never will I forget the dance my youngest brother took me to -when he was home for his first Christmas vacation. It was at the Country -Club, and because it was Christmas all the younger kids went." - -"I know about that kind of dance," Poppy interrupted. "Nobody has a very -good time." - -"Well, I know _I_ didn't," Gladys admitted. "I felt very elegant when I -left home. Ted had on full dress and looked magnificent, and I had let -my best party dress down--" she stopped abruptly and fell to playing a -tatoo on the arm of her chair. - -"Go on, Glad, we're listening," Phyllis urged. "What happened when you -arrived at the dance?" - -Gladys looked from girl to girl, then she said quietly: "Nothing." - -"Nothing?" Sally protested. "Oh, Glad, don't be irritating!" - -"I'm not trying to be," Glad replied. "Simply nothing happened. Ted left -me as soon as he found some of my old maid cousins that he could leave -me with, and he only came back and danced with me once. He brought a boy -to meet me that wore glasses because he was cross-eyed, and he -stuttered. I danced with him once and then I went into the dressing room -and took off my slippers. My feet were almost broken, and the next day -they were black and blue. He had tramped all over them." - -"Well?" several voices demanded as Gladys paused. - -"There's nothing more to tell. I wept into somebody's opera cape until -it was time to go home, and during the drive I fell asleep on Ted's -shoulder. I didn't think he understood until the next day, when Mother -asked me if I'd had a good time. I said I had, and after breakfast Ted -took me to the village and filled me full of ice cream, and on the way -home he explained very gently what a nice thing a sister could be, a -sort of little comfort, you know, and then on the other hand, what a -dreadful little bore. I didn't need the talk, I'd learned my lesson. I -stay at home now and fix the studs in their dress shirts when they want -to go out, and if it's cold I stay up and make hot soup for them, but I -never ask to tag along." - -Nothing was said after Gladys stopped, for a minute or two. The girls -were all thinking hard. Most of them had brothers or cousins and they -all understood. - -"Perhaps if I'd treated my brother like that," Gwen said with a laugh -that held sadness in it, "he might have been a better friend of mine now -than he is; but I always tagged along and he got thoroughly sick of me. -I dance about as well as your cross-eyed friend, Glad." - -Phyllis was thinking of Tom, and being thankful that he was so much -older than she and Janet, that they had never had the chance to make -Gwen's mistake. - -Janet was thinking of Peter and wondering. Peter Gibbs was a boy she had -known back in Old Chester. They had shared the Enchanted Kingdom -together, and he had taken the place of her brother long before Tom had -arrived to claim the right. Janet was fonder of Peter than she really -knew, and she found herself suddenly wondering if he had outgrown her, -now that he was in college. She made a firm resolve to take Gladys's -advice. - -"Well, thank goodness, Chuck isn't in college yet," Daphne said -suddenly, and Sally and the Twins laughed. - -Then, as so often happens, when a room-full of people have been quietly -thinking, everyone began to talk at once. They dismissed the subject of -brothers and returned to the holidays. They made plans for all of the -days, except Thanksgiving Day itself. - -"Something's bound to happen then," Gwen assured them. "Miss Hull will -probably ask one of the classes to entertain." - -"You know it will be the Seniors," Poppy replied reproachfully, "and -what we will do at so short notice I'm sure I don't know." This in -Poppy's complaining tones made the girls all laugh. - -"Cheer up, Poppy, we'll all help you, no matter what," Sally promised. -"We might have a real old-fashioned pillow fight between the wings; that -would liven us up a bit," she suggested. "I admit I feel rather -depressed myself." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI--More Plans and Plots - - -But the plans for Thanksgiving Day were not entrusted to the Seniors as -they expected. That night after dinner Miss Hull got up from her place -at the Senior table, before she rang the little silver bell that always -signalled the close of each meal. - -Instant silence fell over the dining room, and the girls all turned to -her expectantly. - -"Girls," she began, "I was more than sorry to have to ask you to give up -your holidays, and I want to say how much I appreciate the splendid way -you have all accepted the disappointment. You must make your own plans -for most of the time. You are free to do as you like. I would suggest a -picnic for one of the days. It is really not a bit too cold and it would -be a good way to keep out of doors. - -"On Thanksgiving day, I want you to be my guests at a Thanksgiving -dinner." The girls clapped their hands enthusiastically but Miss Hull -had not finished. - -"Just one more thing, girls please," she went on. "Remember the girls -that have the measles. They are sick in the Infirmary, and although you -must remain on their account, just think how very much worse it is for -them, and do what you can for them. Notes are always welcome when one is -in the Infirmary, aren't they?" she turned to Poppy. - -"Yes, Miss Hull, most anything is," Poppy replied, a worried expression -on her usually placid face. She was wondering whom she could persuade to -write to the Red Twins and Ethel Rivers. Kitty Joyce and Louise Brown -she knew would be well taken care of. Miss Hull had a way of making a -suggestion, and then leaving it to the Seniors to see that it was -carried out. - -The same thought was reflected on the face of every Senior. Gwen and -Poppy found their solution in the Sophomore class. Their own particular -pets could be depended on they know. - -"We'll ask them after dinner," Gwen said, and Poppy nodded. - -So, soon after dinner found the same group in one corner of the ballroom -that had discussed the subject earlier in the day. - -"We'll write, all of us," Ann announced, speaking as was her right as -the oldest girl. She had been at Hilltop a year longer than any of the -others. "And what's more, we will write really nice notes." She looked -around the circle defiantly as though she dared any one of them to -contradict her. - -"We will," Prue agreed. - -"Suppose so, though what I'll say, I'm sure I don't know," Gladys -scowled at the prospect. - -"Thank goodness, the measles stayed in the new wing. I hope none of us -catch it," Sally remarked. "What else are we to do besides writing the -notes?" - -"I don't know. We'll have to think of something," Gwen replied. - -"Why don't we serenade them?" Daphne suggested. "It's always fun to hear -people sing, especially if they sing all the songs you like." - -"Good idea," Poppy agreed. "We'll do that very thing. We'll sing some of -the old plantation melodies and the old ballads that Miss Hull loves. -Daphne, you and Janet come down to Seniors' Retreat in the morning. You -have awfully pretty voices, both of you. I heard you singing in church, -last Sunday." - -"Sure it wasn't Phyl?" Ann inquired. "If you can tell the Twins apart in -church, when their heads are bent reverently over their prayer books, -you are doing more than I can." - -Poppy laughed and pointed to the tiny crescent pin that Phyllis was -still wearing. - -"I couldn't at first," she admitted. "But Phyllis took off her coat and -I saw that pin, then I watched them when the next hymn began, and she -never opened her lips, so I said to myself, 'Janet has the voice.'" - -"And, of course, Taffy looks as if she ought to sing, and she does," -Gwen added. - -"She looks like Diana at the chase, with a bow in her hand, too," Sally -teased, "but she can't shoot." - -Daphne blushed ever so slightly. "What an unfortunate turn the -conversation has taken," she drawled. "Poppy, we will meet you in the -morning, of course any time you say." - -Janet nodded. "Love to, Poppy, I think it will be a lot of fun," she -said. - -"It's awfully decent of Miss Hull to give us a party," Sally remarked. -"I know it will be something rather nice, she always does things so -beautifully!" She paused and added after a second, "Wish we could do -something for her." - -It was only a germ of an idea, but it grew with amazing speed. - -"I wish we could, too," Gwen said first. - -Then Prue added, "So do I." - -The rest nodded and it was Sally's turn again. - -"Well, why don't we?" she said. - -"Let's." - -"Good idea." - -"But what?" came the replies. - -"I don't exactly know," Sally admitted. "The idea just popped into my -head." - -"A serenade," someone suggested. - -"Not nice enough." - -"How about tableaux, living pictures? Miss Hull loves those." It was -Poppy who spoke. - -The rest thought for a few minutes in silence. Just tableaux were not -exactly the thing somehow. The idea lacked originality. - -At last Gladys jumped and executed a silent but triumphant dance. - -"Well, let's hear it." Ann knew Gladys better than any of her other -friends, and she felt that the question had been solved. - -"Well, I don't want to be forward or cheeky," Gladys began shyly, "and -anyway it's just a suggestion." - -"Let's have it," Gwyn demanded. - -"Well," Gladys began again, "you all know how fond Miss Hull is of the -stories that have come down about Hilltop." The rest nodded eagerly. - -"Why couldn't we have tableaux representing all the Hilltop stories we -know about?" she finished with a rush. - -The girls looked their admiration. - -"We can and we will," Poppy declared. "I declare, that's just the -sweetest idea I ever heard!" She and Gwen went off to confer with the -other Seniors, and the rest went back to Gladys' room. - -"What tableaux would you have, Glad?" Prue inquired respectfully. - -"Well, there's our Countess," Gladys replied. "There's a miniature of -her own in the library, in the bookcase, that has all the souvenirs in -it, and, as I remember it, she looks like Taffy." - -"But where shall we find the costumes?" Phyllis inquired. - -"Up in the attic. It's loaded with cedar chests full," Ann told her. -"Miss Hull always lets us wear them when we give masquerades." - -"Tell us about the rest of the characters," Sally said impatiently. - -"Well, there's the poor unhappy lady that haunts the Twins' balcony," -Gladys suggested with a perfectly straight face. - -"The Twins' balcony?" Sally showed her surprise at this new adaption of -an old tale, but neither Ann nor Prue moved a muscle as Gladys -continued. It was the opportunity they had been waiting for, ever since -Janet had expressed the wish that their room had a ghost. - -"Yes," Gladys went on in a matter-of-fact tone, "the poor pretty lady -that was standing on the balcony and looked down, and saw them bringing -home the dead body of her lover. He had fought a duel with her brother, -and the brother had killed him." - -"Oh, Glad, and you never told us!" Janet protested. "Was it really from -our balcony?" - -Sally who had caught Prue's warning wink did not question any further. -She knew as well as they did, that the famous haunted balcony was on the -other side of the house, outside of one of the class rooms. - -"Truth of the matter is, I didn't intend to tell you at all," Gladys -said seriously. "Those things are not nice to know about. The servants, -you know, all vow they have seen the ghost." - -Phyllis shivered. "Poor lovely lady" she said, "I'm awfully sorry for -her, but I know I shall never sleep again." - -"What nonsense" Janet exclaimed. "The idea of believing in ghosts." - -The other girls did not agree with her that it was nonsense; they merely -exchanged rather knowing glances. - -Then Poppy and Gwen and some of the other Seniors came in, and the talk -changed to plans for the tableaux. - -It was decided to give six in all. They talked earnestly until the clock -chimed the Happy Dreams, then the Seniors went back to their rooms, and -the rest of the girls, after a few minutes' more talk, to theirs. - -Janet went straight to the balcony, when she and Phyllis were alone in -their own room. She looked out into the lovely night, and in her vivid -imagination she saw the whole scene, as Gladys had told it to her, -unfold before her. - -If Miss Slocum had seen her stretch out her arms, as she looked down -with the eyes of the poor maiden upon the body of her lover, she might -have wondered. In literature, Janet kept her emotions to herself, and -the more a scene from Shakespeare touched, the more colorless was her -voice as she read it. As she would have hated to have shared the -Enchanted Kingdom with any one but Peter, so she hated to share her love -of the romantic, and hold it up for possible ridicule. - -"Jan, do come in from that horrible balcony," Phyllis besought her. "I -have the creeps every time I look at it." - -"Nonsense," Janet replied shortly, but she came in, and it was not many -minutes before she was in bed. Phyllis, in spite of her predictions to -the contrary, was soon fast asleep, and Janet, though she tried to keep -awake and think about the pretty lady, soon followed. - -Neither of them ever knew how long they had been asleep, before they -were conscious of a low moaning sound that came from the balcony. - -Phyllis heard it first, and she leaned over and shook Janet's arm. - -"Jan, listen, what is that horrible noise?" she demanded. - -Janet, still very sleepy, sat up to listen. For a minute there was no -sound, but the whisper of the wind in the trees. Then very faintly at -first, but coming nearer and nearer, they heard a low moan. - -Phyllis was in Janet's bed in a second, and was shivering against her. -For the best part of a minute Janet was frightened, then her good sense -came to her rescue. She had not lived in an isolated house in Old -Chester, where the wind played queer tricks with echoes and the waves -beat dismally against the shore, to be easily frightened. - -"Oh, Jan, it's that woman, I know it is!" Phyllis was sobbing. - -"Rats!" Janet replied inelegantly. - -Before Phyllis could stop her, she had slipped out of bed and was -creeping softly to the window. Phyllis was too frightened to speak. The -moan came again, and this time a white arm waved through the open door. -Phyllis put her head under the covers and did not see what followed. - -Janet crept closer. She was conscious of the pounding of her heart, but -she was not afraid. Instead, she rather enjoyed the possibility of -catching a real ghost. - -She watched the window for a minute and then, acting on a sudden -impulse, she walked to the door. She put her ear to the keyhole, and, as -she had half expected, she heard a very cautious whisper. - -Without waiting a minute she caught the handle of the door and opened it -suddenly. - -Two kimonoed figures fell into the room. The noise was so loud that -Phyllis felt no ghost could have been responsible for it, and she -uncovered her head. - -She saw, by the silver moonlight that was pouring in through the window, -the prostrate forms of Prue and Ann, and she heard Janet say, - -"Come in, won't you? If you are looking for Glad, she is out on the -balcony." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII--The Tableaux - - -"Really, you girls choose the oddest time to visit!" Janet said the next -morning after breakfast. - -Gladys sneezed. "Don't rub it in," she begged; "it's bad enough as it -is. I do think though, that when we took all that trouble to give you a -real ghost, and I make an excellent ghost, if I do say so, that the -least you could have done was to play up to it." - -"Phyl did," Prue looked reproachfully at Janet. "Will you please tell me -whatever made you think of opening that door?" - -"She was going to call for help," Ann suggested. - -Janet smiled a superior smile. "Hardly. I knew, of course, that it was a -joke, and I rather suspected whose. I knew there was only one of you on -the balcony, but I knew the other two would not be far off, so I tried -the door, with what results, you already know." - -"Jan Page, I am perfectly willing to take my medicine, but I will not be -gloated over." - -Gladys made a dive for Janet, and they rolled together in a -rough-and-tumble fight. - -In the midst of it Poppy came in. - -"What are you two young ones up to?" she demanded. "Do stop, or you'll -hurt yourselves and not be fit for the tableaux." - -"We've decided about the one for the little lady that fell off the -balcony," Gwen began. "We're going to have it in two scenes." - -The girls could hardly keep their faces straight as they listened. - -"Is Glad going to be the pretty lady?" Janet inquired innocently. - -"No, we thought we'd use you and Phyl for that," Gwen went on with her -explanation. - -They discussed and changed their plans many days before Thanksgiving Day -arrived, but when it did come, a little over a week later, it found them -ready. - -The rest of the school, when Poppy had told them of the scheme, had -heartily endorsed it, and Thanksgiving morning found them all busy. - -Some were fixing the ballroom with bows of evergreens, and some were -busy preparing the refreshments. The girls who were interested in the -Dramatic Club were taking care of the stage. - -They had ransacked the old barn, where the scenery from year to year was -stored, with a happy result. They had found a balcony that rather -resembled a pulpit, a woodland back drop for the Countess to pose -against as she had in the miniature, and an old spinnet for a famous -composer. - -The actors themselves were not allowed to do anything, for fear of -tiring them, and no famous actress could have been taken more care of, -than was Daphne. - -The new wing had been a little difficult at first, for the suggestion -had come from the old wing, and they were jealous, but the Seniors had -smoothed things over, and when the day came it found them all united. - -Church took up most of the morning. It was a long walk to the little -building set in a clump of protecting pines, where the school -worshipped. The sermon was long, and it was not until after one o'clock -that they reached Hilltop. - -Luncheon was spread informally on the two long service tables, and the -girls helped themselves. Dinner was to be at six o'clock, so that there -would be plenty of time afterwards for the final preparations. - -Miss Hull had been invited to come to the ballroom at eight o'clock, but -apart from that, she had no idea what was going to happen. The girls had -all kept it a profound secret, and only Miss Slocum of the faculty knew -the plans. - -"Daphne, darling, please don't stuff so," Janet implored in an agonized -whisper behind Miss Jenks's back. "If you eat another mouthful, you will -never be able to get into that bodice this evening." - -"More secrets," Miss Jenks laughed. "It's a good thing we won't have to -wait much longer, for I couldn't stand it." - -"Neither could I," Miss Remsted agreed. "I can't remember ever being so -curious or so excited." - -"Tell us who's idea it was anyway?" Miss Jenks begged. - -"It was a combination," Prue exclaimed. "Sally started it, and Glad -finished it." - -"What a truly wonderful combination!" Miss Remsted said smiling. - -"I'm very proud of our table," Miss Jenks added. - -The girls looked at Daphne, and the Twins and winked at each other. -Their favorite teachers would have more cause to be proud later in the -day. - -After luncheon the entire school plunged into a whirl of work that -lasted until time to dress for dinner. - -"Best clothes, mind," Poppy had warned the girls; "white if you have it, -Miss Hull loves to see the whole school in white." - -The girls nodded, and hurried to their rooms, to appear a half-hour -later in filmy white dresses, their hair tied by pink and blue bows. - -"You look like a lot of dainty butterflies," Miss Hull told them -delighted at the pretty picture they made. "I appreciate your wearing -white, for I am sure you did it to please me. But I mustn't talk any -longer, we have still that surprise ahead of us and it would never do to -delay it." - -They took their seats and there followed a meal of the kind one reads -about in books--a typical southern dinner. - -At every girl's place there was a dainty place card. Miss Remsted had -painted them all, and every one was a little joke in itself. The Twins -had green pods with two little peas in each, and written above it was -"alike as." - -Sally had a green poll-parrot with "My Aunt Jane's" written in front of -it. Daphne's read, "I excel with" and then a bow and arrow. - -The tables were all decorated with baskets of fruit and nuts, and the -snowy linen and shining silver gave the beautiful old hall a splendid -aspect. - -Everybody was very merry and happy. The old darkies who had waited on -the tables at Hilltop since it started were immaculate and grinning in -white aprons and red bandanas. - -"And now for the surprise," Miss Jenks said as they left the table after -the nuts and fruit. - -The girls hurried upstairs. Gwen came into the Twins's room to help -them, and Poppy stayed with Sally and Daphne. - -At last everything was ready. The stage was set for the first tableaux, -and the lights in the ballroom were out. - -The curtain rose slowly to discover Sally, dressed as a boy in a velvet -suit, a broad, white lace collar and shoes with big buckles. She was -posed on a rock with the woodland screen behind her, and she looked so -like the first owner of Hilltop, whose painting hung in the library, -that Miss Hull and the rest of the faculty gasped. - -The next picture was a copy of another painting,--Ann and Prue, dressed -in long, very full skirts that showed frilled pantelets beneath them, -stood side by side before a tiny grave. They were "Delia and Constance -Hull beside the grave of their favorite spaniel." - -Prue was kneeling on a tack in the green denim floor cover, and her knee -was so paralyzed after the curtain fell for the third time, that Sally -had to lift her up. She limped for a week. - -The Twins came next in two scenes from The Haunted Balcony. In the -first, Phyllis, dressed in a soft white robe, sat with her chin cupped -in her hands and her eyes looked out toward the rising sun. At the back -of the stage behind a net curtain, to give the effect of a vision, were -Gladys and Janet. They wore black satin knee breeches and white shirts, -open at the throat. They held old pearl-handled duelling pistols pointed -at each other's hearts. - -The curtain fell, to rise again on the sad scene of the poor demented -lady, about to throw herself from the balcony. Attendants were carrying -in the crumpled body of her lover. Gladys looked very dead, while her -brother stalked behind, his arms folded, a smile of triumph on his -youthful face. Gwen was imposing as the old doctor carrying a very -dilapidated bag. - -The next illustrated the story of Mrs. Fanmore Hull's bravery. Poppy was -seated before a spinning wheel, in a soft gray dress and cap and -kerchief. At the door three villainous looking bandits peered in at her. -One had a patch over his eye and they all looked very rakish. - -Mrs. Hull went on spinning for a minute or two, and then she rose with -dignity and grace. She approached the robbers, and just as she reached -the door she picked up the thin apron she was wearing and as one would -scare the chickens off the grass, she said, "shoo!" The robbers -disappeared. - -Everybody laughed, for they knew the old story, and Miss Hull clapped -delightedly. - -The next was the famous Countess de Camier. Daphne in all her radiant -loveliness was so like the miniature of the Countess, kept carefully in -a locked case in the library, that Miss Hull was stunned. Like her -charming model, Daphne wore a quaint shepherdess dress, that spread -about her dainty slippered feet in soft billows. Her hat was a white -leghorn with just a flat bow of blue velvet on top, but a mass of tiny -forget-me-nots snuggled beneath the brim, against her wonderful hair, at -the back. - -She sat on a small, straight-back chair, leaning a little forward, her -lips parted in a haunting little smile, and her eyes bright. - -"Oh!" gasped everybody, the girls, the faculty, and Miss Hull, and then -held their breaths, fearful lest the curtain drop and shut out the -lovely picture. - -At last it dropped slowly only to rise again and again. - -"What a beautiful Juliet she would make!" Miss Hull said, and Miss -Slocum nodded. - -The last picture was hardly worth showing. Helen Jenkins, dressed in -man's clothes, sat at the spinnet and tried to look as though she were -composing a masterpiece, but everybody was too full of Daphne to look at -her. - -The curtain dropped, the lights came on, and the girls came from behind -the scenes in their costumes to join in the dance that followed. Phyllis -and Daphne made a beautiful picture as they walked arm in arm through -the room, for Phyllis, with her hair over her shoulders and the soft -ivory folds of her robe falling about her graceful body was very -beautiful. They were almost rivalled in loveliness by Sally and Janet, -for they made dashing boys and they swaggered about in fine style. - -Miss Hull's usually remote disposition was touched by the nature of the -surprise. She loved the history of her house, and she was delighted to -see the genuine feeling the girls put into their impersonations, and she -did not stint her praise as she said good night to each girl in turn. - -It was a sleepy but very happy school that sought their beds as the -grandfather clocks throughout the house struck eleven. - -"I told you it wouldn't be hard to stay here for the hols, and it hasn't -been, has it?" - -"Certainly not." - -"How about the trip to New York, Prus?" - -"Oh, bother New York!" Prue replied, and the evening ended as the day -had begun, with laughter. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII--The Elections - - -The low-ceilinged white-washed gym at Hilltop had originally been the -store-room and the dairy. The rooms were thrown into one, and made an -excellent gymnasium. A balcony ran around the sides for spectators, and -the walls were lined with racks for dumb bells and other apparatus. -Basket ball posts stood at either end, and hooked up to the ceiling were -trapezes and bars. - -Hilltop preferred to take its exercise out-of-doors, but the gym was a -very good substitute in bad weather. - -It was nearing the Christmas holidays, the most exciting time of the -year. Teams were chosen and new members were elected to the various -clubs. - -Because of the unusually cold and rainy weather, the archery target had -been brought in and put up in the gym. A soft, small mesh curtain hung -behind it to catch stray arrows. The bows were piled up along the wall, -and the arrows kept a neat pile beside them. - -"It looks stuffy to me," Sally complained. "I never shot indoors and I -don't think I'm going to like it." - -Janet eyed the arrangements critically. - -"Oh, well, it will have the same effect on everybody," she said. "And -seriously, Sally, you know we haven't a chance. There are loads of girls -up for election." - -"I know and we're only Sophs," Sally agreed. "Still I can't give up -hope." - -"But Sally, there are only ten to be chosen, six regulars and four -subs," Janet reminded her. "Why, we haven't a chance. There's always -next year though, and the blessed year after. You'll be captain of -sports then." - -"I will not, you will be. I decided that ages ago. Phil is to be -president of the Dramatics, and Daphne of the class." - -Janet eyed her affectionately. "And what are you going to be when you -have disposed of the rest of us?" - -"Oh, guide, philosopher and friend to you all," Sally laughed. "Then I -can have my finger in every pie." - -"That's the way our four does things anyway," Janet laughed. They always -spoke of themselves as "our four" since Daphne had happily thought of -the name. The rest of the girls, old and young, looked on in approval. A -school is apt to be proud of its close friendships. - -Ann, Prue and Gladys, in imitation, called themselves "We and Co.," and -the school smiled and approved again. - -The Red Twins came in and put an end to further discussion. They had -recovered long since from their attack of measles and they had returned -from the Infirmary very chastened in spirit--as Sally said, "the spirit -of Hilltop was beginning to work." They were still too serious about -every competition they entered, and they had not grown any fonder of -each other during their illness. - -It was the rules of the contest that everyone must use the regulation -bows. The Twins had their own special make that they practiced with, -preferring them in a superior way to the ones the school supplied. - -They had them with them now and Sally and Janet stopped to admire them. - -"Don't you think it mean we can't use them in the contest?" Bess asked -in aggrieved tones. - -"No, I don't, it would hardly be fair. You wouldn't want an advantage, -would you?" Sally replied. - -"I don't see why not," May said sulkily. "If we can have them, then -we're lucky and we ought to benefit by our luck." - -Janet and Sally did not bother to reply. They left the gym and climbed -the steep back stairs. - -"The more I see of those girls, the more I detest them," Janet said with -feeling. - -"I know," Sally agreed. "I begin to think they are possible and -improving, and then they say a thing like that." - -"Hopeless," Janet announced, and the Red Twins were discarded as unfit -for further conversation. - -"Hello, you two!" Daphne called from the door of the library as they -passed. They went in and found Phyllis with her nose in a copy of the -_Merchant of Venice_. - -"Down looking at your miniature, Taffy?" Sally teased. - -"I am not, indeed; I'm trying to learn Little Ellie by Mrs. Browning," -Daphne protested. "It is a lovely thing," she added, turning to Janet. - -"I knew you'd love it," Janet's eyes glowed with enthusiasm. "I wanted -Phyllis to learn it but she stuck to 'the Quality of Mercy Is Not -Strained,' and I don't know that I blame her, it's so beautiful." - -"And short," Phyllis added, putting down the book. Sally went over and -sat beside her and she slipped her arm about her neck. - -"Tell us again, Sally, just what happens this afternoon," she said. - -"At two o'clock the gong sounds," Sally began, "and everybody troops to -the gym. There's a game of basket ball first. Every girl who is eligible -gets a chance to play. After that comes the archery practice. We shoot, -the same as we did on Archery Day, that is, all the eligible girls. Then -there's the jumping and pole vaulting and the drill. Then cold tubs, -supper, and the Dramatic Club girls recite in the evening. After that a -dance and refreshments." - -"But when do we know?" Phyllis insisted. - -"Tonight when we go to our rooms. If we are the lucky ones we find notes -under our pillows." - -"My, I mean your Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot!" Janet exclaimed, "I wish it -were over." - -"So do I. The suspense is awful. Of course we all have a chance, but -it's such a little one." - -"My hand is so shakey now that I'll never be able even to lift my bow, -let alone string it," Janet complained laughingly. - -"Well, never mind, darling, your twin will probably get up and forget -every line she ever knew," Phyllis comforted. - -"Let's go out for a walk, and don't let's talk about it," Daphne -suggested suddenly. "I had a letter from mother today," she began, and -until lunch time they discussed home plans, for this was the last -Saturday before the holidays. - -At two o'clock they went to the gym. - -The basket ball game was long and uninteresting. The New Wing supplied -most of the players, and it looked as if they would be the final winners -of the cup. - -Then came the Archery Contest. Once more Janet beat the Red Twins. The -change of bows hurt their form. It was never necessary to do it again. -Sally's luck held, and she made a very good score, but there were so -many girls, Juniors and Seniors competing, that neither Janet nor Sally -felt at all hopeful. - -At dinner there was a quiet lull over the dining-room. Hilltop insisted -that her girls be good losers above everything else, and there was very -little grumbling, but every girl tonight was busy with her own thoughts. - -At last the recitations came. Girl after girl stood on the stage in the -ballroom and recited lines from Shakespeare. - -Not until Phyllis stood quietly before them, were they conscious of a -personality. She said Portia's famous speech simply, but with -understanding. She made the girls listen, and when she finished they -gave her her just dues. - -Daphne followed her, and as she told the story of Little Ellie, Janet -felt again the spell of the Enchanted Kingdom. - -Daphne's beauty always called forth instant appreciation from her -school-mates, and tonight they were more than generous in their -applause. - -Dancing ended the evening, but tonight there was no lingering after -sweet dreams had chimed out bed-time. - -The girls hurried to their rooms. - -Janet and Phyllis stood and looked at each other, and then dived under -their pillows. - -Only Janet found a note. She opened it listlessly. What was the fun if -Phyllis had missed out? She read that she was duly elected to the -Archery Team. - -"Oh, Phil!" she whispered, as she dropped her note carelessly, but she -did not have time to finish, before Sally and Daphne rushed in, both -flourishing notes. They stopped aghast at the sight of the Twins. - -Phyllis managed a very little smile. - -"Congratulations," she said. - -"Phil, do you mean?" Daphne demanded and poor Phyllis nodded. - -Ann and Prue and Gladys came dancing in. Gladys had made the Archery -Team as a substitute. - -They stopped, too shocked and surprised at the news of Phyllis's -failure. - -"But you deserved it, Phil," Ann insisted. - -"Nonsense, I did no such thing. You don't deserve things just because -you want them," Phyllis replied. "Goodness me, I've enough joy in your -good luck to last me a life-time. So do forget about me." - -"What's that?" Gladys demanded, and she swooped down under the bed and -stood up with a note for Phyllis in her hand. - -"It just fell down," she cried. "Read it, Phil, quick!" - -Phyllis read. She was a member of the Dramatic Club. - -"Oh--oh, Jane!" was all she could find to say. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX--The Tennis Games - - -Christmas came, and with it the joys of long holidays and home. The -Twins had a particularly good time, for Auntie Mogs, Mrs. Ladd, and Mrs. -Hillis all entertained for them, and Mr. Keith, Donald's father, gave -them a marvelous party. - -They found Chuck very much changed and inclined to be superior, but it -was not long before he was back on his old footing with the Twins, -showing a marked preference as always for Phyllis. - -The last four days of the vacation were spent at Major Harrison's, Ann's -uncle, who had surpassed all expectations by inviting Gladys and Prue, -the Twins, and Daphne and Sally to stay with his niece for the entire -three weeks. - -They had all accepted for the last four days, and glorious days they had -been. There were horses to ride, dogs to play with, and for Janet the -library of her dreams. - -Major Harrison, a taciturn old gentleman, had been very gruff at first, -but towards the end of their visit he had sought out their -companionship, and seemed to enjoy their good times as much as they did. - -Janet was his especial pet. He rode with her, and together they visited -the kennels each morning; and when Janet showed her skill in caring for -a sick puppy, he had been so pleased that he had given the little -brown-and-white ball to her. She had accepted the gift delightedly, but -it was understood that the dog should stay at Glenside, for her own Boru -would not welcome a rival in New York, and she could not keep him at -Hilltop. - -They had great fun at the christening, when the puppy was duly named -Janet and recorded in the club annals. - -After Christmas came the long term at school. But Easter was early, and -thanks to the beautiful weather that came soon after the first of the -year, the girls did not feel the usual mid-year strain. - -When this chapter opens, Spring was in full sway at Hilltop. The great -bushes of lilac that fringed the lawn were ready to blossom, and -everywhere spring flowers added their brilliance to the deep blue and -white of the sky. - -Sports Week was in progress. Basket Ball Day had come and gone, leaving -a victory to the new wing. The relay races had been run the day before, -another victory for them. - -Only Archery and Tennis remained, and unless the old wing won both they -would be beaten at sports. - -"I don't care as much about tennis as I do about archery," called Sally -as they dressed that morning. All the doors were open and the remarks -floated from room to room. - -"Oh, I do, as a point, if nothing else," Ann called back from the end of -the hall. - -"Do me up, somebody," she added, as she struggled with a refractory -button at the back of her white linen dress. - -"If the new wing wins points in sports this year, I am not coming back," -Gladys announced. "Here, Ann, turn 'round and stand still, I'll do you -up. Think how awful it would be to have the Red Twins gloating all next -term," she added. "I simply couldn't stand it." - -"Who plays them in the finals in doubles?" Prue asked. - -"We do," Phyllis answered. "We played off yesterday, and, and of course -they had to beat Poppy and Helen." - -"Cheeky of them, I call it," Gladys commented. - -"Oh, well, if you are up against them, we don't need to worry. How's -your game?" Prue had never held a racket in her hand, but she always -spoke in tennis terms. - -"Very bad, thank you, Prue," Janet informed her. "I twisted my wrist -yesterday, playing against Kitty and Louise, and Phyl hurt her foot." - -"I suppose the Red Twins are in high feather then. How they love an -advantage!" Sally said crossly. - -"Well, they don't happen to know about this one?" Janet replied. "I have -kept mighty still about it. My hand goes behind my back when I see any -of the faculty, so they won't notice the adhesive plaster on my wrist." - -"Is it as bad a sprain as that?" Daphne inquired. - -"Yes, it's terrifically painful," Janet replied. "I can't see how I am -going to manage," she added in a much louder voice than was necessary to -carry across the hall. - -"Who was that?" Gladys exclaimed suddenly. She was dressing in the -corridor as well as in her own room. - -Janet went to her door, and stood smiling after a retreating figure that -was hurrying softly down the stairs. - -"Hush, Glad, don't spoil my party," she said laughing. "That was Ethel -Rivers, over scouting for the Red Twins. I saw her reflection in my -mirror, so I gave her what news I could." - -"But why tell her how sore your arm is? The Red Twins will gloat," Prue -protested. - -"Wait and see," Janet replied. - -And the Red Twins did gloat. They even asked the Twins if they would -like a handicap. Janet did the refusing in such a way, that it left them -perfectly sure that she would have gladly taken it, had it been -possible. - -"What are you up to, Janet dear?" demanded Daphne, who had heard the -conversation. - -"A rather mean trick, Taffy," Janet admitted, "but I can't help it. They -are so funny when they are sure of themselves. Do look at May -condescending to Phyl. On my word I do believe she is giving her -points." - -Daphne took her by the shoulders and shook her. "Jan, tell me the truth. -How much of a chance have the Red Twins?" she demanded. - -"Not a chance in the world," Janet replied calmly. - -And Daphne went back to the eager group of girls who were crowding for -places near the court, and smiled her sweet dreamy smile in response to -all the new wing girls' boasts. - -The match began. Gwen and Stella Richardson played off the finals in -singles, and after a hard fought fight, Gwen won. - -"She has a back hand stroke that is a perfect whiz," Phyllis exclaimed -admiringly. "Wish I could get it!" - -"Oh, well played, Gwen, well played!" Janet called as flushed but -triumphant Gwen left the court. - -"Well fought!" Sally called as Stella followed her. She was smiling -broadly. - -"I'd hate to be beaten by any other girl, but it's a positive honor to -be beaten by Gwen," she said good-naturedly. - -"All right, you girls, already for the finals in doubles." Gwen blew her -silver whistle. She was once more captain of sports. - -The two sets of twins took their places. - -"Awfully sorry about your arm!" Bess said with patronizing kindness as -she passed Janet. - -Janet nodded her thanks. Her arm did hurt, in spite of the way she had -joked about it, and she could not help thinking of the Archery contest -next day. She looked ruefully at her bandaged wrist as she took her -place. - -The Red Twins served first. Bess sent a tricky drop to Phyllis but her -racket was waiting for it and she sent it back, just dribbling it over -the net. - -The old wing shouted with delight, and Bess stormed. - -"Why don't you stand into the net? You know that's one of her tricks," -she said angrily. - -"Oh, keep still," May muttered. - -"Love--15," Gwen called. - -With more feeling of assurance, Bess served again. This time to Janet. -She chanced the first ball and tried a new cut. It fell the wrong side -of the net, but she tossed up the second undaunted. - -Janet ran forward to meet it, and sent it back easily, to the extreme -right hand corner of the court. - -"Oh, pretty place!" Sally applauded from the side lines. - -The Red Twins lost the first game of their serve and the second fell -before Phyllis' smashing delivery. They won the third and fourth. - -The twins had an easy time with the fifth and sixth. Bess and May were -quarreling so that they were easy victims before Phyllis and Janet's -perfect team-work. - -After the first set, the result of the match was a certainty. They -stopped after the fourth game and were received with salvos of applause. - -Janet swayed a little as she walked off the court. Her wrist was sending -blinding pains up her arm and she could not wait to tear off the strip -of adhesive plaster that bound it so cruelly. - -Sally and Daphne noticed her pallor and went to her. - -"Get me a drink, will you, Taffy?" Janet said, weakly sitting down on -the bench in a sudden fit of awful weakness. - -She pulled off the bandage and disclosed an angry red swelling. - -"Oh, Jane, and we thought your wrist was all a joke!" Sally exclaimed. -"How awful, and archery--" - -"Don't," Janet said swiftly. "If you remind me of it, I'll weep." - -Phyllis meanwhile was talking to the Red Twins. - -"I can't see why we lost," Bess said stubbornly. "We are better players -than you are, and you know it." - -[Illustration: _She pulled off the bandage and disclosed an angry red -swelling_] - -"Of course you are," Phyllis agreed, "much better, but you have no -notion of team-work. You both want to do it all, and get all the credit. -I can't see why you are twins. The way Jan and I feel, it amounts to the -same thing, as long as _we_ do it. That's because we are twins, I -suppose." - -"Well, it's because _we_ are twins that we can't get along together," -May explained. "We don't want the other one to get ahead, and it's -natural that we shouldn't," she added in justification. - -"It's not natural," Phyllis contradicted; "and let me tell you this, -until you learn to work together, you will never be any earthly good to -each other or to Hilltop." - -Having given them this little thought to think over during the summer, -Phyllis turned her back on them and went over to Janet. - - - - -CHAPTER XX--The Dramatic Club - - -Archery Day was a dismal one for Janet. She had to give up her place to -Gladys, for her arm was so swollen that she could not even string her -bow. - -The old wing won, however, and it was Sally who had her name engraved on -the cup as the winner of the highest score. - -It was an exciting day, but the most thrilling thing happened in the -evening. All preparations had been made for the play to be given on the -night before Commencement. The Dramatic Club had decided on _Romeo and -Juliet_. Daphne was to play Juliet, and Poppy Romeo. - -Phyllis had a small part as one of Romeo's friends. Rehearsals had been -going on for the past month, and the cast felt that they were word -perfect in their parts at least. - -Then the night before the performance Poppy fell down stairs. She cut -her face and bruised her shoulders and was carried unconscious to the -infirmary. - -The Twins and Sally and Daphne heard the news in horrified silence. - -"Who will play Romeo?" Daphne demanded. - -The question was settled for them by Helen Jenkins. She knocked on the -door and strode in in her usual business-like way. - -She saw by their faces that they knew the news, so she went straight to -the point. - -"It's the worst possible thing that could have happened," she said -decidedly; and then without a word of warning, added, "Phyllis, _you_ -will have to play Romeo." - -"I play Romeo--" - -"Phyl!" - -"How wonderful!" - -"But it's tomorrow," were some of the exclamations that greeted Helen's -news. - -"Well, can you, or can't you?" Helen demanded. "I must hurry back to the -Infirmary, and put Poppy's mind at rest. She is making herself sicker by -worrying." - -"Of course I'll do it," Phyllis answered promptly though her knees -trembled beneath her. - -"Good girl!" - -"Tell Poppy that I will do my best, and now everybody please get out, -I've got to study lines." - -"Don't worry about lines," Janet said quietly. - -"But why not?" - -"Because I know the whole play backwards and frontwards, and I will sit -in the wings and follow you with every letter," Janet promised. - -Phyllis's face relaxed. "Then that's all right," she said. "I'll brush -up on them, for I know them myself, of course, only I'm not sure of the -cues." - -"I'll give you those." - -Sally and Daphne paused at the door. - -"Call me when you want to go over it with me," Daphne said. "And oh, -Phyl! I didn't like to say it before Helen, but I am so thrilled that I -don't know what to do." - -"Taffy, you're a darling," Phyllis replied. "I'll probably spoil all -your nice scenes, too." - -"Oh, no you won't," Sally returned decidedly. - -"How do you know?" Phyllis asked laughing. - -"Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot told me," Sally replied as the door closed on -them. - -It was a busy twenty-four hours that followed. Janet stayed with Phyllis -every minute and gave her of her own courage. - -The dress rehearsal was a decided failure, but the old girls were not at -all alarmed. - -"I'm hopeless," Phyllis protested. - -"You are not," Janet denied hotly. - -"How do you feel, honey?" Poppy inquired. She was downstairs, but a sad -sight indeed, with her face covered with little pieces of gauze slapped -on with bits of adhesive plaster. - -"Terrified, Poppy," Phyllis admitted. - -"That's just right. I wouldn't have you sure of yourself for a second," -Poppy comforted. - -"Oh, dear, I must go and study some more," Phyllis sighed. - -"You are to do nothing of the kind. You are to go out and take a walk, -and then come in and have a nice nap." - -Phyllis laughed at the idea, but Poppy, with the aid of Sally and Janet -won her point, and with Daphne, nearly as frightened as Phyllis, they -went for a long walk. - -When they got back they were glad enough for a little nap. - -At last the evening came, and with it all the attendant excitement of a -performance. The old girls were as calm as they could be. They were used -to it, but poor Daphne and Phyllis! - -They felt the difference in their ages and class, and were conscious of -a tiny feeling of resentment, not in the girls of the Dramatic Club, but -in some of the Juniors who had not been elected. - -The curtain rose on time, at exactly eight o'clock. The setting was -charming and Phyllis, sure of Janet's support, accredited herself well. - -The ballroom was filled with strange faces, for there were lots of -guests, and after the first terrified glance at them, Phyllis kept her -eyes on the stage. - -By the time the balcony scene came, she was almost calm, and her voice -floated clear and mellow as she began-- - - "He jests at scars who never felt a wound--" - -Daphne was a beautiful Juliet, with her soft hair bound down by a fillet -of pearls. When she leaned from her balcony to ask-- - - "What man art thou, who thus bescreened in night so stumbleth on - my council?" - -The guests caught their breaths from sheer wonder. - -Phyllis, perhaps under the witchery of Daphne's smile, forgot her -self-consciousness, and threw herself into the part with the result that -she wooed her Juliet with all the ardor of old Verona. - -It was a triumph for the Dramatic Club, but for Daphne and Phyllis in -particular. They went to their rooms that night with their pretty heads -buzzing with all the flattery they had received. But, like the sensible -children that they were, they soon dismissed it as unimportant. - -"Aren't you the happiest person in the whole world?" Janet demanded. -"You ought to be." - -Phyllis shook her head. "No, I can't be perfectly happy, for every once -in a while I remember that this is our last night, and then I could -weep." - -"I know, Taffy said the same thing," Janet agreed. "But, Phyl, think of -next year. We'll be old girls then." - -Phyllis gave a happy little sigh and snuggled into her pillow. - -"Phyl," Janet whispered after a minute, "I--I'm awfully proud of you." - -Phyllis leaned over and kissed her. - -"There!" she said, "that's the only compliment I have wanted all -evening, and I didn't think I was going to get it." - -They fell asleep almost simultaneously, and the spirit of Hilltop -watched their slumbers, equally proud of them both. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI--And Last - - -The twins stood in the Hall waiting for their carriage to come for them. -Sally and Daphne were with them. - -"Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot, how I hate to go!" Sally exclaimed. - -"Hasn't it been a simply perfect year?" Phyllis agreed. - -The rest nodded. - -"But next year will be even perfecter," Daphne said happily. - -"We didn't make such a bad record," Sally remarked contentedly, knowing -full well that no Sophomore class had ever done as much. - -Their eyes traveled to the mantel. The big tennis cup bore Gwen's name, -and under it "The Page Twins." Sally's name glittered from the smooth -surface of the Archery cup, and on the Dramatic Club's, Phyllis and -Daphne's names stood out. - -"How about this summer?" Janet inquired. "You are both surely coming to -Old Chester for July aren't you?" - -"We are," Sally and Daphne replied together. - -The carriages arrived at that moment, and singing and cheering Hilltop, -all the school drove off down the long hill, leaving the white house -that crowned it a little forlorn in the drowsy sunshine. - -THE END - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TWINS IN THE SOUTH *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38834 - -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. 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