UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES
 
 THE WHISPERING TREES SEEMED TO SAY, "WE 
 KNOW, WE KNOW"
 
 PLAYMATE POLLY 
 
 BY 
 
 AMY E. BLANCHARD 
 
 Author of "Little Miss Oddity," ''Little Miss Mouse," "LiOk 
 Sister Anne," "Mistress May," etc. 
 
 THE PENN PUBLISHING 
 COMPANY PHILADELPHIA
 
 Copyright, 1909, by 
 GEORGE W. JACOBS AND COMPANY 
 Published June, 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Printed in U. S. A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. UP HILL AND DOWN .... 9 
 
 II. PLAYMATE POLLY .... 27 
 
 III. THE NEIGHBOR OF THE YELLOW 
 
 HOUSE 43 
 
 IV. AUNT BETTY 61 
 
 V. A NEW PET . ... 77 
 
 VI. A MYSTERY . 93 
 
 VII. TAKING PILLS ill 
 
 VIII. DAPPLE GRAY 129 
 
 IX. THE GRAY KITTEN . . . ,149 
 
 X. ACROSS WATER 167 
 
 XL WHO TOOK THE SPOONS 1 . . .185 
 
 XIL WHAT WAS FOUND OUT 203 
 
 2125592
 
 CHAPTER 1 
 Up Hill and Do<wn
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Up Hill and Down 
 
 WHEN Jessie started out in the morning to 
 school, she began at the gate to say to herself, 
 "Bridge, Railroad, Hill," and when she started 
 home again if she caine alone, it was "Hill, 
 Railroad, Bricige." Home was at one end of the 
 journey ; school at the other ; Bridge, Railroad 
 and Hill were the stations between, Jessie told 
 herself. If she were reasonably early, she would 
 stop on the bridge and peep over at the running 
 water. At the railroad she seldom stopped ex- 
 cept to say good-morning to Ezra Limpett who 
 sat outside his little box of a house on sunny 
 days, and inside it on rainy ones. He always 
 held out the red flag to show the engineer, when 
 the trains went whizzing by. Once, when the 
 train was behind time, he had allowed Jessie to 
 hold the flattering flag, but that was on her way 
 home, and he had said she must never cross till 
 the train had passed. It was on account of Ezra
 
 12 Playmate Polly 
 
 that Jessie was allowed to go to the Hill school, 
 for he never failed to be at his post watching for 
 her, and Jessie's father knew she would be per- 
 fectly safe in crossing the track because Ezra 
 was there. Of course, it was pleasanter to come 
 from school than to go to it, not only because 
 it was down hill and home was at the far end of 
 the way, but because Effie Hinsdale could come 
 nearly as far as the railroad with her, and a com- 
 panion always makes the distance seem shorter. 
 Furthermore, there was time then to loiter, un- 
 less one felt very hungry, though loitering meant 
 a talk with Ezra about the engines and the trains. 
 The engines were always spoken of as her and 
 she and were known by their numbers. 
 
 One day when Jessie was about to skip across 
 the railroad ties, she heard Ezra call out : " Bet- 
 ter wait a bit. 589 ain't came along yet. She's 
 late to-day by ten minutes, and she's due just 
 about now." 
 
 " Will you let me hold the flag ? " said Jessie, 
 turning aside. 
 
 Ezra nodded. " Hold her good and tight, and 
 don't stand too near. She'll go kitin' to-day be- 
 cause she's behind time. Here, stand on this 
 I
 
 Up Hill and Down 13 
 
 stone and I'll hold on to ye. That's her whistle 
 no\\ r , so up with ye." 
 
 Jessie scrambled upon the stone and gripped 
 the flag tightly, while Ezra took a firm hold upon 
 her. The train was in sight in a second, and 
 almost before she could wink, it went flying by, 
 scattering the dust and causing Jessie's skirts to 
 flutter in the breeze it made. It was very ex- 
 citing, though it was something of a relief to see 
 the tail end of the train disappear down the track. 
 
 " Wouldn't like to be in her way, would ye ? " 
 said Ezra, helping the little girl down. 
 
 " Indeed, I wouldn't," replied Jessie decidedly. 
 " Do you like better to be inside your funny little 
 house, Ezra, or outside it ? " 
 
 " That depends. Wet days I'm glad to be in ; 
 sorter cozy with a fire and my pipe going. 
 'Tain't very big, but it's fair enough shelter, and 
 it ain't as if I hadn't a roomier place to actually 
 live in. I don't have it so very bad, for there 
 ain't no night trains and I can get home and 
 have my night's rest. I'm always in by nine, for 
 there ain't no trains after six. If this was a big 
 trunk line now, the trains would be chugging by 
 all night."
 
 14 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Then don't the conductors and engineers ever 
 sleep ? '' 
 
 "Some of 'em mighty little. There's hard 
 tales about how they're worked. Folks all 
 well?" 
 
 " Yes, thank you," returned Jessie, picking up 
 her books which she had dropped on the ground, 
 and being reminded by Ezra's remark that she 
 must not stay too long. " I reckon I'd better be 
 going now; mother might be worrying about 
 me." 
 
 Ezra nodded. "That's right. Days gettin' 
 kinder short, too. You won't get home much 
 before sundown, come winter." 
 
 " Won't I ? " Jessie had not thought of this. 
 u I'll always have to hurry then." 
 
 " And you won't find me settin' out in the cold 
 so over often," said Ezra. 
 
 " Good-bye," said Jessie. 
 
 Ezra nodded and waved a stubby hand as if to 
 a departing train, while Jessie ran across the 
 track and took up the last part of her accustomed 
 chant. Hill and Railroad were passed, so there 
 was only Bridge left. " Bridge, Bridge, Bridge, 
 Bridge," she whispered, keeping time to her
 
 Up Hill and Down 1 5 
 
 pace, and very soon Bridge, too, was left behind 
 and she was within sight of the lane, the house, 
 the barn, and, last, her mother's anxious face at 
 the window. 
 
 " You're late, dear," said Mrs. Loomis, as the 
 little girl came into the sitting-room. 
 
 " Yes," returned Jessie. " 589 was behind time 
 and Ezra wouldn't let me come till she had 
 passed. He let me hold the flag. I like the 
 train to be late for it is exciting to have her go 
 by so fast it almost takes your breath." 
 
 " I don't like it to be late," replied Mrs. Loomis, 
 " for I always feel anxious about you till you get 
 home. If Ezra were not there, and if I didn't 
 know we could absolutely depend upon him to 
 watch out for you, I don't know what we should 
 do." 
 
 " What do you think you would do ? " asked 
 Jessie. " Would you or father have to come for 
 me ? Would you have to do that ? " 
 
 "No, we couldn't do that very well. We 
 should have to send for you, probably, or else 
 keep you from school altogether." 
 
 " I'd like that," said Jessie in a satisfied tone. 
 
 " You'd like to grow up a silly little dunce ? "
 
 i6 Playmate Polly 
 
 returned her mother, " and not know how to read 
 or write ? Would you like Max and Walter to 
 come home from school and be ashamed of their 
 little sister ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," Jessie was quite sure she would not. 
 "But," she said after a moment's thought, 
 " everybody doesn't have to go to school. Cousin 
 Lillian does not. I could have a governess." 
 
 " That is what you would have to have, though 
 it would be rather expensive. The boys have to 
 go away to school and it costs a good deal for 
 them. But we'll not bother over the question 
 while Ezra is on hand, for now it is perfectly safe 
 for you to go to the Hill school." 
 
 " Suppose something should happen to Ezra," 
 said Jessie, persistently following up the subject. 
 " I should hate anything to happen to him, but if 
 it should, and another man were to take his 
 place, then would I have to stop going to school? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know, child. We won't dis- 
 cuss it now. It will be time enough when such a 
 thing happens." And Mrs. Loomis went out, 
 leaving Jessie standing by the window. 
 
 Jessie stood for a few minutes looking out and 
 then she, too, left the room. It was time to feed
 
 Up Hill and Down 17 
 
 the chickens and after that her father would be 
 coming in. The corn had been harvested and 
 stood stacked in the fields. Jessie thought the 
 stacks looked very much like Indian wigwams 
 and she pictured to herself her terror if they 
 really were such. However, the terror was not 
 very keen and was soon forgotten when she 
 reached the spot where the fowls were jostling 
 one another and pecking eagerly at the corn Mi- 
 nerva was scattering on the ground. Minerva 
 was the servant who had lived in the family ever 
 since she was a little girl. She was very fond of 
 Jessie and the two often had long talks about the 
 chickens, the pigeons, the ducks and the turkeys. 
 
 " There's two young turkej r s missing," said 
 Minerva as Jessie appeared. " After I get 
 through here you can go 'long with me if you 
 like and look 'em up. You're a right good hand 
 for spying 'em out and they do beat everything 
 for wandering." 
 
 " I believe I know where they are," Jessie toid 
 her. " I shouldn't wonder if they were over there 
 where the mountain cherries grow. I've seen 
 them there lots of times." 
 
 " Then that's where we'll look for 'em," said
 
 j8 Playmate Polly 
 
 Minerva, scattering another handful of corn. 
 " They're big enough now not to care much about 
 being with the old ones, and I have to keep an 
 eye on 'em." 
 
 " Have you fed the young chickens yet ? " 
 asked Jessie. " How fast they do eat, Minerva. 
 Look at that great piggy rooster driving away 
 that smaller one. I never did like that old yel- 
 low fellow, anyhow." 
 
 " He is kind of greedy," agreed Minerva. " No, 
 I haven't fed the young chickens. You can mix 
 the meal if you like. Don't make it too wet like 
 you did last time. Mrs. Speckle is a little droopy ; 
 she don't take her food well at all. She's such a 
 good layer, I hope there's nothing wrong with 
 her." 
 
 Jessie moved away to get the meal. Two 
 measures of it she carefully piled up in the 
 tin box which she found in the bin. This she 
 emptied into a pan and then she poured in a little 
 water at a time, stirring it with a spoon at first, 
 and then with her whole hand. She liked the 
 operation, and was so interested in squeezing 
 the wet meal that Minerva finally had to call 
 her.
 
 Up Ml and Down i9 
 
 "If you're going to help me hunt those 
 turkeys, you'd better hurry with that meal," she 
 said. 
 
 Jessie carried the tin pan to the enclosure 
 where the young chickens were making a great 
 fuss, poking their heads between the slats and 
 peeping anxiously. But their peeping soon 
 stopped as Jessie scattered little dabs of the food 
 on the ground. " Don't gather the eggs till I 
 come," she called to Minerva whom she saw 
 searching the nests. 
 
 " Obliged to," returned Minerva, " or there'll 
 be no time to look up the turkeys. It gets dark 
 so much sooner these days, you know." 
 
 "With one swoop of the wooden spoon Jessie 
 swept the rest of the meal into a pile on the 
 ground, set down the pan and joined Minerva. 
 " How many are there to-day ? " she asked. 
 
 " Ten, so far." 
 
 Jessie climbed upon a box and peered into a 
 corner. "There are two more here," she said. 
 "Shall I take them?" 
 
 "If you're careful not to break them," Mi- 
 nerva told her. 
 
 Jessie gently lifted one egg at a time and put
 
 20 Playmate Polly 
 
 it in the basket Minerva carried. " That makes 
 a dozen," she said. 
 
 " And here's another in this nest," Minerva 
 went on. " Old Posy is laying again, I expect." 
 
 This was the last egg found, and the two left 
 the hen-house. Minerva carried the basket into 
 the house and then she and Jessie started off to- 
 ward a corner near the garden where the moun- 
 tain cherries grew, and where many other wild 
 things made a close thicket, so that it was hard 
 to penetrate the middle of the place. But Jessie 
 had been there many a time. It was one of her 
 favorite spots in summer. So now she pressed 
 her body through the tangle of blackberry vines, 
 pokeweed, sumach and laurel bushes to a less 
 crowded part of the thicket. There was a dog- 
 wood tree here, and upon its lower branches sat 
 the two turkeys entirely satisfied with the roost 
 they had selected for the night. 
 
 " Here they are," sang out Jessie. 
 
 Minerva followed the little girl. " Well, I de- 
 clare ! " she exclaimed. " It takes you to find 
 'em. I believe you know every foot of this 
 place." She grabbed first one turkey, then an- 
 other. They set up protesting cries which were
 
 Up Hill and Down 21 
 
 of no use whatever, for Minerva held them firmly 
 and carried them home triumphantly under each 
 arm. " It's too cold for you to be out," she said, 
 addressing the turkeys. " I should think you'd 
 have better sense. I shouldn't wonder if we 
 were to have frost to-night, and then where 
 would your toes be ? " 
 
 "Why, they'd be under them all covered up 
 with feathers," put in Jessie. 
 
 Minerva laughed. " You know more about it 
 than I do, it seems. "Well, anyhow, they'd bet- 
 ter be in where it's safe and warm. Young 
 turkeys are delicate. Besides, some crittur might 
 catch them." 
 
 This was not to be denied as Jessie informed 
 the turkeys. "You're much safer in the hen- 
 house, you two silly things," she said, " so you 
 ought to be much obliged to us for getting you. 
 I'm sure I shouldn't want to stay out in the cold 
 and dark all night and have wild beasts get after 
 me. Minerva, that yellow house just this side 
 the bridge must be taken, for there are people 
 living in it. I saw a cat sitting on the porch and 
 there was a little rocking-chair in the garden. 
 Do you suppose it belonged to a little girl ? "
 
 22 
 
 " It might. I should say it was very likely to. 
 Little boys don't usually care for rocking-chairs." 
 
 " I hope it is a nice little girl and that I shall 
 get acquainted with her," returned Jessie. " Ef- 
 fie Hinsdale is nay nearest girl friend and neigh- 
 bor and she lives across the railroad track. 
 Mother says twice a day is as often as she likes 
 to think of my crossing the track, but when 
 Ezra is there I shouldn't think she'd mind." 
 
 "I should think she would mind," said Mi- 
 nerva. " Don't you see enough of the girls at 
 school ? " 
 
 " Ye-es," said Jessie doubtfully, " I suppose I 
 do, but it's only at recess, you know, for I al- 
 ways hurry home. I was late to-day because 
 589 was behind time." 
 
 " That's the four o'clock, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, but Ezra always calls her 589." 
 
 " And that's why you do. I suppose that's a 
 fairly good reason. There's your father and 
 Sam coming up the lane. I'll put up the turkeys 
 and you can open the gate for them." 
 
 Jessie ran down the long avenue of trees 
 which led up to the house, opened the gate and 
 stood there while her father drove in.
 
 Up Hill and Down 23 
 
 " Climb up, Puss," he said, " and I'll take you 
 around to the barn. Been a good girl to-day ? 
 Missed any lessons ? " 
 
 "I didn't know how to spell 'conscientious,'" 
 Jessie told him, " and two examples weren't quite 
 right." 
 
 "That's not so bad. A good many people 
 don't know how to spell ' conscientious/ " said 
 her father with a little laugh. " Any demerits ? " 
 
 " One," said Jessie a little shamefacedly and 
 quickly changing the subject. " I held the flag 
 for 589," she said. " Ezra let me." 
 
 " The train was late, I know," said Mr. Loomis. 
 " I heard the whistle and hoped you were safe 
 across." 
 
 " I wasn't. Ezra wouldn't let me go, though 
 there was plenty of time. He said suppose I 
 should fall." 
 
 Her father nodded. "He's right. Nice old 
 chap, Ezra is. Well, here we are. Kun in and 
 tell Minerva that Sam has a basket of peaches 
 in the wagon. They're the last we'll get this 
 year." 
 
 " Where did you get them, father ? " 
 
 " From that tree over in the south field ; it's
 
 24 Playmate Polly 
 
 a late variety, but they will be pretty good for 
 preserves." 
 
 " I'm going to have one before that happens," 
 said Jessie, running into the kitchen and meet- 
 ing Sam just as he was bringing in the peaches. 
 
 " Work for you to-morrow, Minervy," he said 
 as he set down the basket. 
 
 "That's so," returned Minerva. "Well, I 
 don't mind. Them white peaches makes fine 
 preserves and we haven't any too many peaches 
 put up this year. Hungry, Sam ? " 
 
 " You bet," he replied. " Always am. Seems 
 to me I don't more'n get one meal down than 
 I'm ready for another." 
 
 "It ain't quite as bad as that," returned 
 Minerva. " I'll have your supper ready in the 
 shake of a sheep's tail. By the time you've done 
 milking, anyway." 
 
 Sam went out with the milk-buckets and 
 Jessie returned to the sitting-room. Her father 
 was at his desk, setting down some accounts; 
 her mother was watering the plants which had 
 lately been brought in and put in the south 
 windows. Jessie stood looking out into the 
 gathering twilight. Everything showed forth
 
 Up Hill and Down 25 
 
 duskily. Many of the trees were shedding their 
 leaves. Down by the brook a row of willows 
 looked fantastically like people with big heads 
 and wild hair, Jessie thought. There was 
 one quite small, which seemed very human. 
 Jessie regarded it interestedly for some time be- 
 fore she turned and said, " Mother, what is the 
 little tree down by the brook ? the one with a 
 funny head. What's its name ? " 
 
 " Pollard "Willow," replied her mother, glan- 
 cing out of the window toward the place Jessie 
 pointed out. 
 
 "Polly Willow," whispered Jessie to herself. 
 " Polly Willow ! What a funny name."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Polly
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Playmate Polly 
 
 IT was some time after this that Jessie made 
 the acquaintance of Polly Willow and it came 
 about in a way that Jessie had not expected. It 
 was due in the beginning to 589 which seemed 
 of late to be getting into a habit of tardiness. 
 One morning when Jessie was going to school 
 she missed her good friend Ezra at the door of 
 his little house. A stranger was there, a gruff 
 sort of somebody who cried out sharply : " Get 
 over there quick, siss}'. You ain't no business 
 crossing tracks when trains is coming." 
 
 "There isn't any train coming," said Jessie. 
 " I know all about the trains. There isn't any 
 after the 803 when 411 comes along. The next 
 train is at twelve and the one after at four." 
 
 " Much you know," replied the man. " I sup- 
 pose the president of the road has sent you a 
 special message saying he's just changed the fall
 
 30 Playmate Polly 
 
 schedule. I had my information from Ezra, but 
 I reckon he don't know. He told me to look out 
 for a train at 8 : 35." 
 
 " There wasn't any such train on Friday," said 
 Jessie. 
 
 " Fall schedule hadn't come into effect. Time 
 changes to-day." 
 
 " Where is Ezra ? " asked Jessie, still unbeliev- 
 ing, but by this time safely across the track. 
 
 " Took down with rheurnatiz. Been bothering 
 him on and off for some time. Now he's laid up 
 in bed." 
 
 " Dear me, but I am sorry," said Jessie. 
 
 " That don't cure his aches and pains," re- 
 turned the man. " You'd better hustle along, 
 sis. I've got to signal to this here train and I 
 can't stand here all day talking to you." 
 
 Jessie turned away indignantly. Ezra would 
 have asked if she didn't want to hold the flag 
 when the train went by, and he would not have 
 told her in that rude way to " go along." She 
 did not like this man at all. She wondered if 
 Ezra would be ill all winter, and then suddenly 
 she thought of what her mother had said ; that 
 if anything happened to Ezra, her parents would
 
 Playmate Polly 31 
 
 not feel that they could allow Jessie to take the 
 walk to the Hill School. 
 
 However, Ezra and the trains were forgotten 
 when the little girl reached school, for there 
 were several interesting things to take up her 
 thoughts that morning. In the first place, there 
 was a new scholar named Anna Sharp. She had 
 come to live with her aunt in the neighborhood 
 and was going to attend the Hill School. Next 
 Effie Hinsdale whispered that there were four 
 dear new kittens in the barn and that Jessie 
 could have one if she liked. Effie had been 
 given a demerit for whispering, and that had so 
 disturbed Jessie that she missed her geography 
 lesson and had to recite it after school, so alto- 
 gether there was quite enough to put Ezra out of 
 her mind. 
 
 She remembered him before she reached the 
 railroad, and then she determined that she would 
 not pay the least attention to the flagman who 
 was taking Ezra's place, but that she would run 
 across the tracks without turning her head. She 
 had not resisted the temptation to stop at Effie's 
 long enough to see the new kittens, and had 
 chosen the gray one, so that it was later than
 
 32 Playmate Polly 
 
 usual when she reached the railroad. Of course 
 589 must have gone by, for it was the express 
 and was due at four o'clock. There could not 
 be the least danger, thought Jessie. She saw 
 that the flagman had his back to her and was 
 standing looking up the track. She made haste 
 to cross before he could see her, and, in her 
 hurry, she tripped over the rail and her books 
 were scattered in every direction. She picked 
 herself up and was about to gather her books 
 together when she heard the shrill whistle of an 
 approaching train, while from up the track she 
 saw the express rapidly advancing upon her. 
 For a second she stood, numb with fright, and 
 then she leaped across the rails, her heart beat- 
 ing fast. Another moment and the train went 
 flying by. She was safe if her books were not. 
 She saw her geography go careering down the 
 road, her arithmetic lying some distance away, 
 and her reader nowhere to be seen. But books 
 were of no account just then. The child's whole 
 thought was to get home as quickly as possible. 
 Without looking back once she sped along as 
 fast as she could run, tears coursing down her 
 cheeks and herself so shaken that when she
 
 Playmate Polly 33 
 
 reached home she burst into the sitting-room and 
 flung herself, sobbing, into her mother's arms. 
 
 " Why, m j darling, what is the matter ? " 
 asked Mrs. Loomis anxiously. 
 
 " 589 was late and Ezra has the rheumatism 
 and they have changed the time and I tripped 
 on a rail and lost my books. There was a horrid 
 man there, too, and he called me ' sis.' " 
 
 In this rather mixed-up speech her mother 
 recognized that something alarming had really 
 happened. " Never mind, dearie," she said sooth- 
 ingly. " "Wait till you can stop crying and then 
 tell me all about it. Mother has you safe any- 
 how, hasn't she ? " She cuddled the little girl 
 closely in her lap and in a few minutes Jessie 
 was able to give a better account of what had 
 occurred. 
 
 Mrs. Loomis looked very grave as she shook 
 her head. " Thank heaven," she said, " that you 
 were not so bewildered as to stand still. We 
 didn't know the winter schedule was in effect. 
 Ezra would have sent us word if he had not been 
 ill. Oh, my child ! " She hugged Jessie sud- 
 denly to her and after a moment continued, " It 
 is clear to me that it is not safe for you to go to
 
 34 Playmate Polly 
 
 school by yourself. I will see if we can arrange 
 to have Sam take you, and I might be able to 
 spare Minerva to bring you home. You could 
 go as far as the Hinsdales and wait there for 
 her. I should never have an easy moment if 
 you were to go over that road alone. Try to 
 forget this afternoon's fright, dear child, and go 
 talk to Minerva. I see your father coming." 
 
 Jessie went to Minerva and helped her feed 
 the chickens, almost forgetting in this task, that 
 she had been so frightened. But after supper 
 her father took her on his knee and questioned 
 her about the matter. 
 
 "No more school for you yet a while, miss," 
 he said. " I can't spare Sam just now for I am a 
 man short, and it won't hurt you to stay at home 
 for a week while we plan what is to be done 
 next. I pinned my faith on Ezra, but now that 
 he is out of the question we shall have to think 
 of some other way of doing." 
 
 So the next day Jessie stayed home from 
 school, and not only the next, but for several 
 days she was free to wander about the place and 
 do pretty much as she pleased. "She's had a 
 bad fright," said Mr. Loomis to his wife, " and
 
 Playmate Potty 35 
 
 she is a nervous, imaginative little thing, so she'd 
 better stay out-of-doors all she can till she gets 
 over this. I don't think we need let her bother 
 with lessons for a while yet." 
 
 The first day Jessie amused herself near the 
 house; the next she wandered as far as the 
 mountain cherry-tree ; the third found her down 
 by the brook, and there she saw Polly Willow 
 waiting for her. 
 
 " I've just got to have somebody to play with," 
 said Jessie, looking at Polly "Willow's funny head. 
 "I think maybe you'll do for a playmate, Polly. 
 There's one thing about it ; you can't run away 
 and you'll always be here when I want you. Of 
 course you are pretty big, but so are the other 
 people in your family. You are much the small- 
 est of any of them, so I don't suppose you are 
 any older than I. I think the first thing I do 
 must be to get you a hat. I know where there is 
 one I think I can have." 
 
 She ran back to the house and up to the attic 
 where she found an old straw hat. On her way 
 down she stopped at the door of her mother's 
 room to poke in her head and say : " May I 
 have this, mother ? '"
 
 36 Playmate Potty 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " An old hat. I want to play with it." 
 
 Her mother glanced at the hat. " Yes, you 
 may have it. Where are you playing ? " 
 
 " Down by the brook." 
 
 "Don't get your feet wet. So long as you 
 have your rubbers on and are in the open air, I 
 am satisfied." 
 
 With the hat in hand Jessie ran back to the 
 brook. The fallen leaves already dappled its 
 surface with red and yellow, but goldenrod and 
 asters made a gay fringe along the sides. Sit- 
 ting down on a fallen log she proceeded to trim 
 the hat with flowers. A plume of goldenrod 
 decorated one side ; a bunch of asters the other, 
 and when it was finished, Jessie stood on tiptoe 
 and stuck the hat on Polly's big head. " It's 
 rather small for you," she said as she gravely 
 regarded the effect, " but it makes you look more 
 like a little girl. Now, Polly, we'll plaj , I'm 
 going to live over there." She waved her hand 
 in the direction of a large rock a short distance 
 away. " I see Mrs. Mooky is coming to see me, 
 so I shall have to go, but I'll come over again 
 after a while. Good-bye, Polly."
 
 Playmate Polly 37 
 
 A pretty fawn-colored cow was grazing near 
 the big rock. This was the person Jessie called 
 Mrs. Mooky. The little girl was not in the least 
 afraid of cows, of this one in particular, for she 
 had been accustomed to seeing Mrs. Mooky ever 
 since she was a little calf which had fed from 
 her hand. So now she approached her boldly, 
 saying, " Good-morning, Mrs. Mooky. I'm very 
 glad to see you. I am sorry I was not at home 
 when you called just now, but I had to run over to 
 Polly's. She has a new hat that she wanted me 
 to see." 
 
 The cow lifted her head and gave a gentle 
 " moo." 
 
 " I understand," Jessie went on. " You'll 
 come again some other day. Very well. Good- 
 bye." And the cow moved on. " I'm going to 
 ask mother if I can't have a tea-party here with 
 Playmate Polly. No, I won't say with Playmate 
 Polly; she might laugh. A grown person couldn't 
 exactly understand how nice it is to have a Play- 
 mate Polly for a friend. I'll bring one of the 
 dolls, and oh, dear, I wish the gray kitten 
 were big enough. Mother says I can't have it 
 till it is quite able to do without its mother,
 
 38 Playmate Polly 
 
 so I'll have to wait, and I shall have to get 
 Charity." 
 
 Again she went back to the house, this time 
 to get the doll which had been bought at a 
 bazaar in the city by Jessie's aunt who had sug- 
 gested the old-fashioned name of Charity for her, 
 since it was a charity bazaar at which she had 
 been bought, and because the doll was dressed 
 in a very old-fashioned costume to represent a 
 Colonial Dame. She had now a long cloak to 
 cover her brocade frock, a cloak that Jessie had 
 made from a piece of gray flannel, and in conse- 
 quence of her having this warm garment, Jessie 
 thought her better prepared for outdoor play 
 than the other dolls. 
 
 " May I have something for a party ? I'm 
 taking Charity with me down to the brook," 
 she said to her mother whom she found in the 
 kitchen. 
 
 " "Why, yes," said her mother, " what do you 
 want ? " 
 
 " What is it that smells so good ? " 
 
 " Peach marmalade, I suspect. We're making 
 some." 
 
 " I'd like some of that on some bread."
 
 Playmate Polly 39 
 
 " It's hot," said Minerva, " and it isn't done 
 yet, but I reckon it will taste good and it will 
 soon cool off in the open air. What will you 
 have it in ? Oh, I know ; one of those little jars 
 the beef extract conies in. There are some in 
 the pantry on the shelf behind the door." 
 
 Jessie set Charity on one of the kitchen chairs, 
 and went to the pantry for the little jar which 
 Minerva filled with marmalade. She then cut a 
 couple slices of bread, buttered them and put 
 them wrapped in a napkin, into a small egg 
 basket, adding the jar of preserves and an apple. 
 " Be careful how you carry it," she warned Jessie. 
 " You don't want to smear that sticky stuff all 
 over the basket, and be sure to bring it and the 
 jar back when you come. Now, don't forget." 
 
 "I'll remember," said Jessie. "Thank you, 
 Minerva. I shall have a lovely time." 
 
 " Here, come back," cried Minerva, as Jessie 
 went out. " I didn't put in any spoon. Would 
 you rather have a spoon or a knife ? " 
 
 " A spoon, I think," said Jessie, " for then if I 
 want to eat any preserves I can do it easier, and 
 a spoon will do to spread with, too." 
 
 " One of the kitchen spoons, Minerva," said
 
 40 Playmate Polly 
 
 Mrs. Loomis. " We don't want the silver lost at 
 the bottom of the brook." 
 
 Jessie was quite satisfied with a kitchen spoon 
 and went happily on her way, holding the little 
 basket and her doll, carefully. " We're going 
 over to Playmate Polly's, Charity," she informed 
 her doll. " You don't know her, but she is a very 
 nice little girl, just the kind I like. She knows 
 all about the flowers and birds and such things, 
 for she lives right down by the brook where they 
 live. She told me this morning that she is very 
 intimate with the birds especially, and now that 
 they are going south for the winter she would be 
 very lonely if I didn't play with her. I think 
 she will be glad to see you, too, for I am sure she 
 doesn't have much company these days. Mrs. 
 Mooky comes pretty often, but then she is not a 
 little girl like me, and that makes a great differ- 
 ence." 
 
 Talking thus to her doll, she went on her way 
 and soon reached the brook. The marmalade 
 was still warm, but when it was spread on the 
 bread which Jessie laid out on the red doily, it 
 soon cooled, and if Jessie was obliged to eat both 
 Polly's and Charity's share b}^ proxy, she did not
 
 Playmate Polly 41 
 
 have to eat for the birds, who were glad of the 
 crumbs, and who, when the last speck had van- 
 ished, came near enough to look inquiringly with 
 their bright eyes as if to ask, Is that all ? 
 
 " Now, Polly," said Jessie, " I'm going to ask 
 you to take care of Charity for me a little while. 
 She isn't very well this morning, and I want to 
 see the doctor about her. You know Dr. Bramble, 
 of course." 
 
 Polly, answering in Jessie's voice, said she 
 knew Dr. Bramble very well indeed, that he was 
 a sharp sort of person, and often very disagree- 
 able, but that he was a good doctor and his 
 cordial fine stuff. 
 
 So, leaving Charity in Polly's care, Jessie went 
 to hunt up Dr. Bramble. She was obliged to 
 stay quite a while for when she reached his house 
 she found that Mrs. Bramble had a few belated 
 blackberries for her, and they were so tempting 
 that Jessie was obliged to gather them all. 
 " They'll do finely for pills for Charity," she said, 
 " or maybe I'd better make medicine of them ; I 
 can mash them in the jar with the spoon and give 
 her a teaspoonful at a time ! " 
 
 The berries were rather hard and could not be
 
 42 Playmate Polly 
 
 easily crushed, but finally Jessie accomplished the 
 work and Charity was given her first dose, 
 though she cried a good deal over it and insisted 
 that she could not take it. " But you must, my 
 dear," said Jessie firmly, " or you will not get 
 well. Do you want to be ill and not have any 
 more of the nice marmalade Minerva is making ? " 
 Charity deciding that she preferred marmalade 
 to illness, at last took the medicine by means of 
 Jessie's mouth, and was then put to bed and 
 covered up with leaves. Then Jessie amused her- 
 self a long while with Playmate Polly. They 
 talked about many things ; the birds, the fishes, 
 the flowers, the gray kitten and of Charity's ill- 
 ness, and the time went so pleasantly that when 
 the dinner horn sounded Jessie had no idea that 
 it was so late. She had enjoyed her morning 
 hugely, and had come to have a great affection 
 for her new friend, Playmate Polly.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House 
 
 EVERY morning after this Jessie went down 
 to the brook to play with Playmate Polly. 
 Charity soon recovered from her illness, Dr. 
 Bramble's medicine being the very thing for her, 
 and she was able to enjoy her share of the scrap- 
 ings of marmalade which Jessie ate for her from 
 the big preserving-kettle. Mrs. Mooky called 
 frequently, and so did other persons. Jessie 
 made the acquaintance of a lively cricket which 
 lived under the big stone that she was accustomed 
 to call her house, and she also had several con- 
 versations with a fat toad which would come out 
 and blink at her on mild days. Still it was Play- 
 mate Polly whom Jessie liked the best. She 
 kept the knowledge of this queer friend a secret 
 from everybody, and for that very reason prob- 
 ably enjoyed her the more. 
 
 One afternoon, however, when she and Polly
 
 46 Playmate Polly 
 
 had been having a particularly interesting talk, 
 Jessie heard a laugh from the other side of the 
 brook, and looking up quickly she saw a little 
 girl with very black hair and eyes, astride a fallen 
 log. " Hello ! " said the little girl. 
 
 Jessie looked at her interestedly. " Hello ! " 
 she responded. She had never seen the little girl 
 before ; not at church, nor on the road, nor any- 
 where, and she wondered who she could be. 
 " Who are you ? " she asked presently, " and how 
 did you get over there ? " 
 
 " I'm Adele Pauline Falaise Hallett," was the 
 reply, " and I got here by walking." 
 
 " Goodness ! what a long name," said Jessie. 
 " Do you live near here ? " 
 
 " Yes, I live in the yellow house this side the 
 bridge." 
 
 " Oh, I know now," returned Jessie ; " you're 
 the new people. Did you come through the 
 woods or by the road ? " 
 
 " Through the woods. What's your name ? " 
 
 " Jessie Loomis." 
 
 " Who was it that you've been talking to all 
 this time ? I looked and listened for ever so long 
 and I couldn't see anybody."
 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House 47 
 
 " I was talking to my doll, Charity, part of the 
 time," said Jessie, after a little hesitation. She 
 did not want to tell her secrets to a stranger. 
 
 " Who is Polly Somebody ? You kept saying 
 Polly this and Polly that. Have you a parrot 
 over there ? " 
 
 " Dear me, no," returned Jessie. " I was talk- 
 ing to a make-believe friend of mine." 
 
 "What kind of friend? Can't you see her 
 truly ? " 
 
 " Yes, I can see her. She's this tree." Jessie 
 laid her hand affectionately on Playmate Polly's 
 rough bark. 
 
 Adele laughed. " That's a mighty funny sort 
 of friend. I'm coming over to you. Where can 
 I get across ? " 
 
 " There's a log higher up," Jessie told her. " I 
 cross that way sometimes, and in summer when 
 the brook is very low I can cross on the stones." 
 
 " It isn't so very low now." 
 
 "No, and so you'd better try the log. I'll 
 show you where it is." She took the path on one 
 side the brook, Adele following that on the other, 
 and pretty soon they came to a log thrown across 
 the stream.
 
 48 Playmate Polly 
 
 " It's a little wobbly," said Jessie, " so you'd 
 better be careful." 
 
 With some small shrieks and exclamations 
 Adele managed to cross the bridge without mis- 
 hap. " Now show me where you play," she said 
 somewhat coinmandingly, Jessie thought, and 
 therefore she led the way silently to her favorite 
 spot. 
 
 " This is Playmate Polly," she said as if intro- 
 ducing a friend. 
 
 Adele laughed. " What do you call it that for ? " 
 
 "Because it is her name," rejoined Jessie 
 stoutly, as she turned toward the big stone near 
 by. " This is my house," she went on ; " it is 
 where Charity and I live. Charity is my doll." 
 
 Adele, without answering, picked up Charity 
 and looked her over. " She wears mighty queer 
 clothes," she remarked after a moment. 
 
 " That's because she is a Colonial Dame," re- 
 turned Jessie in a superior tone. 
 
 " Oh," said Adele, setting down Charity care- 
 fully. She did not know just what a Colonial 
 Dame was and did not want to show her igno- 
 rance. " What do you call her Charity for ? " she 
 asked presently.
 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House 49 
 
 "My Aunt Lucy bought her at a charity 
 bazaar, and she said as Charity was one of the 
 old-fashioned names, she thought it would suit 
 an old-fashioned doll. I like it/' she added with 
 decision. 
 
 " I knew a girl once named Temperance," re- 
 marked Adele. " They used to call her Tempy." 
 
 " Where was that ? " 
 
 "In New Orleans where I lived before we 
 came here ; before " she hesitated, and then 
 added in a low voice, " before I lost my mother." 
 
 " Oh ! " Jessie gazed at her with sympathetic 
 eyes. She had never known, before this, any 
 little girl who had not a mother. " Was it very 
 long ago ? " she asked softly. 
 
 " A little over a year," Adele told her. " I 
 have six dolls," she went on, changing the sub- 
 ject. " How many have you ? " 
 
 " Five, but I like Charity the best. She is the 
 biggest and prettiest, too. I have one a little 
 smaller named Lucy, and a little China boy-doll 
 I like very much ; he is about so high." She 
 measured a height of four inches or so. "I 
 bring him down here because he is so little that 
 I can put him most anywhere."
 
 >o Playmate Polly 
 
 " What is his name ? " asked Adele. 
 
 " Peter Pan," returned Jessie. " Then I have 
 a baby in long clothes and a German doll my 
 uncle brought me when he came from Europe." 
 
 It seemed a very interesting family to Adele 
 who said regretfully, " My dolls are so much 
 alike I don't care much more for one than an- 
 other. Some are newer than others ; that's all. 
 Will you show me all your dolls some day ? " 
 
 "Why, certainly," returned Jessie warmly, 
 adding, " I'm awfully glad you live near. 
 There's no one this side the bridge at all. 
 Effie Hinsdale is the nearest, but she lives across 
 the railroad track." 
 
 "Aunt Betty won't let me cross it," said 
 Adele. 
 
 " I used to do it every day ; that was before 
 Ezra had rheumatism. I don't go to school now. 
 Do you go to the Hill school ? " Jessie asked, 
 then added, " Oh, no, of course you don't, if you 
 can't cross the railroad track." 
 
 " No, I don't go anywhere," returned Adele. 
 " I am going to have a governess next week." 
 
 " Shall you like that ? " 
 
 Oh, I don't know. I like Miss Eloise. She
 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House 51 
 
 is a friend of my aunt's and she is very nice and 
 kind, at least she is now." 
 
 " I thought governesses were always cross," 
 said Jessie as if it were a well-known fact. 
 
 " Maybe she will be when she gets to be a 
 governess," Adele remarked. " I hope she will 
 not. I believe I'd rather not have her anyway. 
 I hate lessons." 
 
 " So do I," returned Jessie delightedly. " I'm 
 so glad you feel that way. I was so pleased 
 when I knew I could stay at home for a while." 
 
 "Are you going to stay away from school 
 always?" asked Adele. 
 
 " Oh, I am sure I don't know. I suppose we 
 have to have educations, but it is very disagree- 
 able. I don't see why educations can't come like 
 teeth, when you're ready for them, or an easier 
 way still would be to wake up some morning and 
 find you could do every example in the arithmetic, 
 and another morning you could speak French, 
 and another you would know all the rivers and 
 capitals and mountains and things. Wouldn't 
 that be fine ? " 
 
 Adele laughed. "I wake up every morning 
 and know I can speak French."
 
 52 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Oh, do you ? " Jessie looked at her half in- 
 credulously. "I didn't know any little girls 
 could do that unless they were real French chil- 
 dren who couldn't speak English. How does it 
 happen ? " 
 
 " My grandmother was French. I am named 
 after her," Adele told her, "and my mother 
 spoke French as well as English. I always 
 had a French nurse, too, so I learned French 
 at the same time I did English." 
 
 Jessie looked at her admiringly, then she 
 sighed. " Well, I don't know a word of French 
 or anything except ' Guten tag.' "We had a 
 German to work for us once and he taught me 
 that much." 
 
 " Don't let's talk about such stupid things," said 
 Adele suddenly. " What is behind those branches 
 piled up against that place in the bank here ? " 
 
 Jessie looked at her quickly. It seemed as if 
 Adele's quick eyes and ears would discover all 
 her secrets. " You won't tell ? " she asked after 
 a minute's pause. " Cross your heart you won't ? 
 It's a secret, you see. Playmate Polly is a 
 secret, too. Not even mother or Minerva 'mow 
 about her."
 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House 53 
 
 " I promise," said Adele readily. " Who is 
 Minerva ? " 
 
 " Our girl. She is as nice as she can be. I'm 
 awfully fond of her." 
 
 "Show me what is behind the branches." 
 
 Jessie led the way to the spot where the bank 
 dropped three or four feet. She carefully re- 
 moved the branches, saying mysteriously: "It 
 is a cave, a grotto." 
 
 Adele knelt down and peeped in to see Avhere 
 the bank, shelving in, made quite a little hollow. 
 The floor of the small grotto was paved with 
 pebbles upon which lay rugs of green moss. A 
 piece of looking-glass set in the earth served for 
 a tiny lake. The sides of the grotto were hung 
 with another kind of moss. At one end two 
 small candlesticks, bearing red candles, were set 
 up and in a chair between them was the little 
 china doll. 
 
 " This is where Peter Pan lives," said Jessie. 
 " I'll light the candles and you can see the lake 
 better. That pile of moss over there is Petei 
 Pan's bed. I haven't any table for him yet. I 
 am hunting for a nice little square block of wood, 
 or a smooth round stone would do. I haven't
 
 54 Playmate Polly 
 
 really finished the grotto yet. Don't you think 
 it is right pretty ? " 
 
 "It is perfectly beautiful," said Adele en- 
 thusiastically. "I don't see how you did it 
 Oh, won't you let me come and play with you 
 sometimes ? " 
 
 Jessie felt that she was very generous to be 
 sharing her secrets with a stranger, but when 
 she remembered that Adele was motherless she 
 felt that anything she could do to give her 
 pleasure would be a small thing, so she responded 
 cordially, " Why, of course." 
 
 "I haven't any little doll like Peter Pan," 
 Adele went on, " but maybe a paper doll would 
 do till I could get the right kind." 
 
 " A paper doll would do very well and you 
 could call her Wendy," said Jessie with satis- 
 faction. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Oh, don't you know Peter Pan ? I thought 
 every one did," said Jessie in surprise. 
 
 " Please tell me." 
 
 "All right, I will. I know all about him. 
 When I went to see Aunt Lucy last winter she 
 took me to see Peter Pan, and oh, it was the
 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House 55 
 
 loveliest thing you can imagine. Sit down here 
 and I will tell you." Adele did as she was told 
 and Jessie launched forth into her story, Adele 
 listening attentively. 
 
 But before the story was finished a shrill 
 whistle sounded from the house. " Oh, dear," 
 said Jessie jumping up, "I must go. That is 
 for me." 
 
 " How do you know it is for you ? " 
 
 "Mother has a little whistle that she blows 
 whenever she wants me to come home." 
 
 " Can't you just stay long enough to finish the 
 story ? " said Adele coaxingly. " Please do." 
 
 " Oh, no, I couldn't. There is a lot more, and 
 mother doesn't like me to stay out too late." 
 
 " She won't mind just this once." 
 
 Jessie hesitated and glanced toward the house. 
 Again the whistle sounded. 
 
 Hastily gathering up Peter Pan and Charity 
 she made ready to return home. 
 
 " I think you are real mean," cried Adele. 
 " You just get into the most interesting part 
 and then you stop. I don't like you one bit. 
 I'm just going home and you can talk to your 
 old dumb Polly after this." She stalked away
 
 $6 Playmate Polly 
 
 indignantly while Jessie slowly made her way 
 toward the house, looking back every little 
 while over her shoulder. She knew she was 
 doing right, but she did wish Adele had not 
 gone off in a huff. After all, perhaps Playmate 
 Polly was more satisfactory, for she never quar- 
 reled with her. This thought made her turn 
 and run back a few steps to call out : " Good- 
 night, Polly." 
 
 Just then she heard a scream and some one 
 crying out: "Jessie, Jessie 1" in tones of dis- 
 tress. For only a second Jessie hesitated and 
 then she rushed to the spot from which the voice 
 came to find Adele splashing about in the brook. 
 
 "I slipped off the log," she cried. "I'm all 
 wet and drownded and there is a cow coming ! " 
 
 Fortunately the brook was not very deep, par- 
 ticularly at this point. Jessie laid down her 
 dolls, and went to the bank near the log, reach- 
 ing out her hands and calling to Adele, " Come 
 up here." 
 
 Adele cast a frightened look over her shoulder 
 at Mrs. Mooky, who was taking an evening drink 
 from the stream. "She won't hurt you, will 
 you, Mrs. Mooky ? " said Jessie encouragingly.
 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House SI 
 
 The cow lifted her head and looked fixedly at 
 Jessie, moving a few steps nearer. 
 
 " Oh, she's coming ! She's coming ! " cried 
 Adele frantically trying to scramble up the bank. 
 
 "No, she isn't," Jessie assured her. "Give 
 me your hand. There now, you are safe, but 
 you are awfully wet. Come right home with 
 me and get some dry clothes." 
 
 " No, no," protested Adele, " I'll go home." 
 
 "It's further to your house. You'd better 
 come," said Jessie decidedly. 
 
 "It was all that horrid cow," said Adele. 
 "She came splashing down into the water and 
 scared me so my foot slipped and down I went." 
 
 Jessie smiled. She could not imagine any one 
 being afraid of Mrs. Mooky, but she saw that 
 Adele was really frightened so she only repeated : 
 " You'd better come home with me." 
 
 " "What will your mother say ? " said Adele, 
 still holding back. 
 
 " She'll say she's very sorry it happened, and 
 she'll have Minerva take you home unless Sam 
 is there with the carriage. Father went to town 
 to-day and maybe Sam hasn't gone to meet him 
 yet. Come right along ; you'll get cold."
 
 58 Playmate Polly 
 
 Thus admonished, Adele allowed herself to be 
 led up to the house. Mrs. Loomis met the two 
 little girls at the porch steps. "This is Adele 
 Hallett," said Jessie. " She lives in the yellow 
 house, and she slipped off the log into the brook 
 just now. Mrs. Mooky frightened her." 
 
 " That was very unkind of Mrs. Mooky," said 
 Mrs. Loomis smiling down at Adele. " Come in, 
 dear. You must be chilled to the bone in those 
 wet clothes. There is a good fire in the sitting- 
 room. I always like to have it bright and cheery 
 for Jessie's father when he comes in. Take your 
 friend in there, Jessie, and I will go up for some 
 dry clothes." 
 
 The open wood-fire was sending out a com- 
 forting heat as Adele shiveringly came up to it. 
 " You'd better take off your shoes and stockings 
 first; they are the wettest," Jessie told her. 
 " Your feet must be very cold. I'll take off one 
 shoe and you do the other." 
 
 Adele sat down meekly on the big fur rug, 
 while Jessie helped her to take off her wet foot 
 gear. " There," said Jessie, " stick out your feet 
 and get them good and hot while I unbutton 
 your frock." Adele obeyed without a word.
 
 The Neighbor of the Yellow House 59 
 
 Presently Mrs. Loomis returned with the dry 
 things and bade Jessie take the wet ones to 
 Minerva to dry. " We'll send them home to 
 you," she told Adele as she helped her into 
 Jessie's garments. They were a little large for 
 her, but they did very well. 
 
 Jessie laughed when she came back. "It is 
 another me, isn't it, mother?" she said. "Only 
 that me isn't as big as this me, and it has black 
 hair instead of light brown, and black eyes in- 
 stead of blue. Do you feel as if your name were 
 Jessie, and are you real warm, Adele ? " 
 
 "I feel quite warm," said Adele in a low voice, 
 her head drooping. 
 
 "I'm going to mix something good and hot 
 for her to drink," said Mrs. Loomis, "and then 
 Sam can take her home. Miss Hallett will be 
 anxious about her, and Sam is about ready to go 
 to the station to meet your father." 
 
 As soon as Mrs. Loomis had left the room 
 Adele lifted her eyes, and Jessie saw that they 
 were full of tears. " I said I didn't like you one 
 bit," she burst out, " but I do, I do. I love you. 
 I love you dearly." 
 
 " Oh ! why " Jessie began. She felt em-
 
 60 Playmate Polly 
 
 barrassed and was glad of her mother's reappear, 
 ance. Mrs. Loomis held a glass in her hand. 
 "Drink this, dear," she said to Adele. "You 
 will find that it tastes very good and it will keep 
 you from taking cold." Adele silently obeyed, 
 and found it a spicy-sweet draught which sent a 
 warm glow through her. 
 
 Jessie pulled her mother's head down to her 
 level and whispered something to her. Mrs. 
 Loomis nodded understandingly and when Adele 
 set down the glass she lifted the child's face and 
 kissed her gently on the cheek. " You must come 
 again," she said. 
 
 " And will you take me to see her ? " asked 
 Jessie eagerly. 
 
 " To be sure I will," replied Mrs. Loomis. " I 
 am going to call on your aunt, dear," she said to 
 Adele, " and I hope we shall all be good friends 
 and neighbors." 
 
 Adele looked at her for a moment and then she 
 caught her hand and laid her own cheek against 
 it. " You are lovely," she said, " and Jessie is just 
 like you. I want her to be m}^ friend forever." 
 
 Then Minerva appeared at the door to say that 
 Sam was ready with the carriage.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Aunt Betty 
 
 THE next day there was no sign of Adele, 
 though from time to time Jessie looked up from 
 her play to see if her new friend by chance might 
 be coming along the path on the other side of the 
 brook. Sam had delivered the little girl's be- 
 longings at the yellow house, and had been told 
 that none of the family were up. Later Jessie's 
 clothes were returned with a note of thanks. So 
 Playmate Polly had it all her own way that day, 
 and Peter Pan was provided with more moss 
 hangings as well as a new ornament in the shape 
 of a bright pink pebble for his grotto. Jessie 
 had told her mother all that she had learned 
 about Adele and had received some information 
 in return. Miss Betty Hallett, Adele's aunt, was 
 a delicate woman, and Adele herself was not 
 strong, so the doctor had declared they would 
 both be better in the country, and as Mr. Hallett 
 had removed his business from the south to the 
 middle states he had discovered in the yellow
 
 64 Playmate Polly 
 
 house by the brook, just the place which he 
 thought would suit his sister and his little daugh- 
 ter. It was not so far from the city where he had 
 his office but that he could come home frequently 
 to spend Sunday, and it was in a healthful region 
 as well as a very attractive one. 
 
 " So now," Mrs. Loomis told Jessie, " I must 
 call on Miss Hallett at once, for we are her nearest 
 neighbors and I am sure she must be lonely." 
 
 They set off, therefore, one afternoon, in the 
 little phaeton which Mrs. Loomis always drove 
 herself, and soon they drew up before the yellow 
 house and were ushered into a room filled with 
 stately old furniture and sombre portraits. " I 
 don't think it is as cozy as our house," whispered 
 Jessie. 
 
 " Hush, dear," returned Mrs. Loomis. " It is 
 far handsomer, and probably after a while it witi. 
 look more cheerful. You see everything is not 
 settled." 
 
 At this moment Miss Hallett entered and Jes- 
 sie shrank back against her mother, surprise and 
 something like horror in her eyes, for she saw a 
 tiny little woman with deep dark eyes, a mourn- 
 ful mouth and rather a large head set down be-
 
 Aunt Betty 65 
 
 tween her shoulders. Jessie had never come in 
 contact with a hunchback before and she gripped 
 her mother's hand hard. Mrs. Loomis gave her 
 fingers a gentle pressure before she rose to meet 
 Miss Hallett whose sudden smile lighted up her 
 sallow face. " I hope we are not coming to you 
 before you are ready to receive a call," said Mrs. 
 Loomis. " We are your nearest neighbors, Miss 
 Hallett, and I hope you will believe that we want 
 to be true ones." 
 
 " I am so glad to see you," returned Miss Hal- 
 lett. " This dull day has given me an attack of 
 the blues, and you could not have chosen a better 
 time for coming. I have been wanting an oppor- 
 tunity to thank you for your kindness to Adele, 
 but we have been so busy, it seemed impossible 
 for me to find time to go anywhere. Adele has 
 talked of nothing else but you and your little girl 
 since her rather awkward tumble. I am afraid 
 she gave you a great deal of trouble." 
 
 " Not a bit of it," returned Mrs. Loomis. " I 
 only hope she didn't take cold." 
 
 "No, she did not, thanks to your prompt 
 measures. She is an impulsive, headstrong little 
 creature, and I am at loss sometimes just how
 
 66 Playmate Polly 
 
 to manage her. Fortunately iny friend Miss 
 Laurent has consented to come to us, and with 
 her cooperation I hope we shall do great things 
 for Adele. I wanted to have the house all in 
 order before Miss Laurent should come, and it 
 has been such a task." 
 
 Jessie wished very much that Miss Hallett 
 would send for Adele instead of talking about 
 her, and presently was relieved when a tall 
 mulatto woman was summoned. " Go tell Miss 
 Adele that she is to come in, Angeline," said 
 Miss Hallett. "Or," she turned to Mrs. Loomis, 
 " perhaps your little girl would rather go out to 
 Adele. She is in the summer-house. My brother 
 has had it enclosed with glass, and Adele rather 
 likes to play there. "Would you rather go to 
 Adele ? " she asked Jessie. 
 
 There was no doubt in Jessie's mind that she 
 would very much prefer this, and in another mo- 
 ment she was following Angeline through the 
 hall to a side door and down a broad walk to the 
 summer-house. 
 
 " Young lady to see you, honey baby," said 
 Angeline putting her head in the door. 
 
 Adele, who was busy over something in one
 
 Aunt Betty 67 
 
 corner, turned suddenly and caught sight of 
 Jessie standing on the sill. She darted forward, 
 and flung her arms around her visitor, kissing 
 her first on one cheek and then on the other. 
 " I am so glad you have come," she cried. " I 
 thought you never would. You may go, Angel- 
 ine." She turned to the tall maid who drew 
 down her mouth and disappeared leaving the 
 little girls alone. 
 
 "I thought of course you would come over 
 yesterday, to the play place, you know," re- 
 turned Jessie. 
 
 Adele dropped her eyes and appeared to be 
 looking attentively at her toes. "I couldn't," 
 she said presently. 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " She wouldn't let me." 
 
 "What she?" 
 
 "Aunt Betty. She's horrid like that some- 
 times and is just as mean as she can be." 
 
 " Is that because she isn't she isn't just like 
 other people ? " asked Jessie hesitatingly. She 
 could readily understand that a person who 
 looked like Miss Hallett might have reason to 
 be disagreeable.
 
 68 Playmate Polly 
 
 Adele looked at her fixedly for a moment, 
 then to Jessie's great discomfiture she burst into 
 tears. " She isn't 1 She isn't ! She isn't ! " she 
 repeated. " She is just like other people and she 
 is dear and good and lovely. You shan't say she 
 is not." 
 
 Jessie was bewildered. "I didn't mean I 
 didn't mean " she began helplessly. 
 
 " It was I who was horrid," Adele went on. 
 " It was all my doing. I got mad and screamed 
 and fought Angeline and wouldn't eat my sup- 
 per because I couldn't have coffee and lots, lots, 
 lots of sugar in it, and so Aunt Betty said I 
 shouldn't go to see you till she said I might. 
 She isn't horrid at all, and you shan't say she is. 
 She is perfectly beautiful." 
 
 "It wasn't / who said she was horrid, you 
 know," said Jessie with an emphasis on the /. 
 
 "Well, I don't care. Tou thought so." 
 Adele wiped her eyes and stood thoughtfully 
 picking off the dead leaves from a potted ge- 
 ranium on a shelf near by. Jessie was silent. 
 She hardly knew whether to go or stay. 
 
 Presently Adele turned around with the 
 sweetest of smiles. " Let's play," she said.
 
 Aunt Betty 69 
 
 Til show you all my dolls. Why didn't you 
 bring Charity or Peter Pan with you ? " 
 
 " I will next time," said Jessie, relieved at the 
 turn of affairs, but wondering what kind of girl 
 Adele really was. 
 
 "Come," cried Adele, grasping Jessie's hand. 
 " The dolls are all up in the playroom. I was 
 making medicine for them just now. They have 
 ague, every blessed one of them, and they are 
 shaking their heads off, at least one of them is," 
 she added with a laugh. " I'll show you which 
 one it is." She pulled Jessie along the board- 
 walk and up stairs to a pleasant upper room 
 where six dolls were abed, most of them staring 
 smilingly at the ceiling, though two of them had 
 their eyes shut. Adele picked up one of them 
 and showed a very wobbly head which seemed 
 in danger of soon departing from its body. 
 " This is the shakiest one," she said, " and she'll 
 have to have a double dose of medicine. Indeed, 
 I don't know but that she will have to go 
 to a hospital. That is my newest one." She 
 pointed to a very fresh and smiling flaxen-haired 
 beauty. 
 
 " What is her name ? " asked Jessie.
 
 yo Playmate Polly 
 
 " She hasn't any in particular. I never name 
 my dolls." 
 
 " Oh, don't you ? " This seemed as incredible 
 to Jessie as if she had been told that a family of 
 children had been left unnamed. "I don't see 
 how you get along if you don't name them," she 
 said. 
 
 " Oh, I scarcely ever play with more than one 
 at a time, and then I can always call that one 
 dolly or honey or something," was the reply. 
 
 " I should think you would have to name 
 them," persisted Jessie. " When you are talking 
 about them what do you say ? " 
 
 " I hardly ever do talk about them. When I 
 do it is to Aunt Betty, and then I say the new 
 doll, or the doll with the brown hair, or some- 
 thing of that kind. Don't let's play with dolls. 
 I bet you can't catch mo before I get down- 
 stairs." And while Jessie was recovering herself 
 Adele was off and away down the stairs at the 
 foot of which she stood laughing as Jessie de- 
 scended more slowly. "I think I shall ask 
 Angeline for some cakes," she said. " Come 
 along into the kitchen. I suppose that cross old 
 Roxy wouldn't give us any, but I can coax An-
 
 Aunt Betty 71 
 
 geline into anything. Angeline ! Angeline ! " she 
 called imperiously, " come here." 
 
 Angeline appeared at the entry door. " I want 
 some cakes," said Adele, " some for Jessie and 
 me. We're hungry." 
 
 " Dey ain' no mo' cakes, honey," said Angeline. 
 " Yo done eat 'em. all up." 
 
 "Then make some right away, or tell Eoxy 
 she's got to do it." 
 
 " Koxy she done gone to de sto'." 
 
 " Oh, bother ! You go along and make 
 some, and be quick about it, too," ordered 
 Adele. 
 
 " Law, honey chile, how long yuh spec' it tek 
 to mek up de fiah an' bake cake ? Yuh foolish, 
 chile. I done got some sweet ertaters in de 
 ashes," she hastened to say as she saw Adele's 
 face puckering up for a cry. " I tell yuh what, 
 honey ; I git yuh two nice bowls o' milk an' nice 
 sweet ertaters an' yuh kin tek 'em out in de 
 summah-house an' eat 'em." 
 
 " I suppose that will have to do," said Adele 
 with resignation. " Do you like sweet potatoes 
 and milk ? " she asked Jessie. 
 
 " I never ate any. At least, of course I have
 
 72 Playmate Polly 
 
 eaten sweet potatoes often enough and I drink 
 milk, but I never ate them together." 
 
 "They are mighty good together," Adele 
 assured her. '' Bring 'em along, Angeline, to the 
 summer-house, and don't you be forever about it 
 either." And Adele stalked off with Jessie in 
 her wake. 
 
 " She's very good-natured, isn't she ? " remarked 
 Jessie when they had reached the summer-house. 
 
 " "Who ? Angeline ? Oh, so so." 
 
 " I wouldn't dare to talk to Minerva that way," 
 said Jessie after a pause. 
 
 " You wouldn't ? I don't see why. I always 
 talk as I please to Angeline. She nursed my 
 mother and she nursed me, and she doesn't care 
 what I say to her. Besides, I am her mistress." 
 Adele held her head high, and Jessie looked at 
 her admiringly. 
 
 " "Well," she said, " I suppose that must make 
 a difference; Minerva was never nurse to my 
 mother." 
 
 The two bowls of milk and warm sweet pota- 
 toes soon appeared and though Jessie did not 
 care very much for the combination, she ate part 
 of her share fearing she might seem rude if she
 
 Aunt Betty 73 
 
 did not. She was glad, however, that she did 
 not have to finish, and that a message from her 
 mother obliged her to return to the house. 
 
 " We must go now, dear," said Mrs. Loomis. 
 " We have made a long call." She smiled at 
 Adele as the two little girls came in. 
 
 "Oh, no, you mustn't go," spoke up Adele. 
 " At least, you might let Jessie stay. Won't you, 
 please ? " 
 
 "Not to-day," said Mrs. Loomis gently. 
 " Your aunt has been kind enough to promise that 
 we may have you to-morrow to spend the day, so I 
 think Jessie and I will have to say good-bye now." 
 
 " Oh, am I going for the whole day ? " ex- 
 claimed Adele delightedly, catching her aunt's 
 hand and pressing her cheek against it as was 
 her way of doing. " Is Angeline going to take 
 me, or can I go alone ? I know the way." 
 
 " You may go over alone," Miss Betty told her. 
 " But I will send Angeline for you." 
 
 Remembering Adele's outburst earlier in the 
 afternoon, Jessie steeled herself to move closer 
 to Miss Hallett and to say, " I'm glad you will 
 let Adele come. I haven't any little girls to 
 play with, vou see."
 
 74 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Oh, yes, you have," put in Adele with mis- 
 chief in her eyes ; " you have Playmate Polly, 
 you know." 
 
 Mrs. Loomis looked down with a puzzled ex- 
 pression. " Who in the world is Playmate 
 Polly ?" she asked. " I never heard of her." 
 
 " She is a horrid creature," said Adele laughing. 
 "She has scraggy hair, and a dreadful rough 
 skin, but Jessie is very fond of her, and I don't 
 like her to be." 
 
 Jessie hung her head. She was afraid of be- 
 ing laughed at. " She's only a tree," she said in 
 a low voice. 
 
 Miss Betty smiled, but Mrs. Loomis put her 
 arm around her little daughter and said : " Then 
 I am sure she is a very harmless acquaintance, 
 who will set my little girl no bad examples, and 
 I am sure she is much better than no one." 
 
 Jessie looked up with a grateful smile. Mother 
 always understood. She would tell her all about 
 Polly now that it was a secret no longer. Yet 
 she felt hurt and offended to think that Adele 
 had not kept faith with her, though, as she re- 
 flected, it was not about Polly that her promise 
 was made, but about Peter Pan and his grotto.
 
 Aunt Betty J$ 
 
 Adele knew, however, that Jessie wanted both 
 kept a secret, and so the little visitor threw her 
 hostess a reproachful look which Adele under- 
 stood and eagerly responded to by saying, " I 
 didn't tell about the other thing, Jessie. In- 
 deed I didn't. Now that you have me, I 
 didn't suppose you would care any more about 
 Polly." 
 
 Mrs. Loom is was too considerate to ask about 
 " the other thing," but she was told all about Play- 
 mate Polly on the way home, and agreed with 
 Jessie that it was very well to have such an 
 amiable friend when there was danger of a sud- 
 den flare up from Adele. 
 
 " The poor child has no mother ; we must be 
 very patient with her," Mrs. Loomis said. " She 
 has always been a delicate little thing, and in 
 consequence is greatly spoiled. Her aunt is very 
 frail, too, and says she cannot stand scenes. I 
 hope Miss Laurent will have wisdom enough to 
 know how to manage such a wilful little girl. 
 Miss Hallett tells me that her friend is a very 
 superior woman and that she hopes a great deal 
 from her." She was silent for a few minutes 
 while Barney carried them several rods along
 
 76 Playmate Polly 
 
 the road. Then she said, " What do you think 
 of having lessons with Adele, daughter ? " 
 
 " Oh ! Why, I don't know. I suppose if I 
 have to have lessons at all that it would be nicer 
 than anything. Am I to do it, mother ? " 
 
 " I think so. I shall have to speak to your 
 father first, but Miss Hallett is very eager to 
 have such an arrangement and brought up the 
 subject herself, so I do not see but that we shall 
 profit by it. She is very anxious that Adele 
 should have a companion, for she has been too 
 much with older persons, and it would certainly 
 settle our difficulty of lessons for you." 
 
 This gave Jessie a great deal to think about 
 all that evening, and the last question she asked 
 that night was, " Will you promise to tell me 
 first thing in the morning, mother ? " 
 
 And her mother answered, " I promise."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 A New
 
 CHAPTER V 
 A New Pet 
 
 As Mrs. Loomis had said, Miss Hallett's prop- 
 osition settled the question of lessons for Jessie, 
 and so when Adele appeared the next morning, 
 bright and early, Jessie had the great piece of 
 news to tell her, and Adele responded in her 
 usual tempestuous way by giving Jessie a tre- 
 mendous hug, and by rushing to Mrs. Loomis to 
 embrace her, too. " It will be perfectly lovely," 
 she cried. " You will come to my house every 
 morning and we'll have lessons in the playroom ; 
 it will have to be a workroom then, and in the 
 afternoon we can play by the brook." 
 
 " We'll not be able to all winter," said Jessie, 
 " for it will be too cold." 
 
 " Oh, I forgot that ; we don't have much win- 
 ter down our way, you know." 
 
 "Of course I don't mean that we can never 
 play out-of-doors," returned Jessie, " but it will 
 be too damp down by the brook most of the 
 time, and it will often be too snowy."
 
 8o Playmate Polly 
 
 " Oh, the snow ! I long for it," cried Adele 
 clasping her hands. 
 
 " It is nice," said Jessie. " I like to slide on 
 the ice, too, even when it isn't snowy. We can 
 often go out on the little pond when the ice is 
 thick. It is rather fun to be out in the cold at 
 any time, for you feel so good when you come in." 
 
 " I shall get Miss Eloise to let me walk home 
 with you sometimes," said Adele, " because you 
 will have to come by yourself in the morning, 
 and it wouldn't be fair for you to walk both ways 
 alone. Does the brook freeze over? " 
 
 "Sometimes," Jessie told her, "and then we 
 can cross on the ice. I'd rather go that way al- 
 ways, for it is shorter than to go around by the 
 road, but I suppose I can't in very bad weather." 
 
 " "What will you do about Polly when it gets 
 cold ? " asked Adele. 
 
 " Oh, I can always see her except when there is 
 deep snow." 
 
 " And the grotto ? " 
 
 " I'll have to cover it up with brush and it will 
 be there in the spring. Why did you tell my 
 secret, Adele ? " 
 
 "Because I don't like Polly. I didn't tell
 
 A New Pet 8v 
 
 about the grotto, did I ? and I think Polly is ugly. 
 I wish you didn't like her." 
 
 " Anyhow, she never tells things I don't want 
 her to," said Jessie severely. 
 
 Adele buried her head in the sofa cushion of 
 the lounge upon which she was sitting, and began 
 to sob, " I don't care, I don't care. She is noth- 
 ing but an ugly wicked old tree, and you shall 
 love me best, because I love you best. I don't 
 pick out queer bad old creatures like that to love 
 more than you. I believe she is nothing but an 
 old witch." 
 
 For a moment Jessie felt quite remorseful, but 
 then a feeling of not wanting to be forced into 
 likes and dislikes took possession of her, and she 
 relentlessly said : " I shall not like you best if 
 you tell my secrets." 
 
 " I won't tell any more. 'Deed and 'deed I 
 won't," said Adele, lifting a tear-stained face. 
 " Please love me best, Jessie." She caught Jes- 
 sie's hands and put them around her own neck 
 looking at her so pleadingly that Jessie's heart 
 melted and she answered : " All right, I'll like 
 you best." 
 
 But the words were scarcely out of her mouth
 
 82 Playmate Polly 
 
 before they were stopped with kisses, and Adele 
 looked as happy as she had looked miserable a 
 moment before. " Now come," she said, " let's 
 go to the grotto. I brought paper dolls ; one is 
 "Wendy and the other is Tinker Bell. Now you 
 can finish the story, and we'll have a lovely time." 
 
 They started off very happily, Mrs. Loomis 
 watching them from the window. " I don't know 
 how it is going to turn out," she said to herself, 
 " but I hope Jessie will learn self-control by see- 
 ing how it looks to fly into such tantrums as 
 Adele's. I think the sight of them will do her 
 more good than any amount of precept." 
 
 Having given her word that Polly should no 
 more have first place, Jessie was ready to be very 
 amiably disposed toward Adele, yet from nine 
 o'clock in the morning till six in the evening is a 
 long stretch, and it was rather too much to ex- 
 pect that two excitable little girls could spend all 
 that time in one another's company without dis- 
 agreements. Once during the day Jessie gathered 
 up her dolls and started for home, leaving Adele 
 disconsolately sitting on a stone, but Adele was 
 the first to ask to make up, and begged so hard 
 to be taken back into favor that Jessie yielded.
 
 A New Pet 83 
 
 Once, too, Adele in a sudden rage threatened to 
 demolish the grotto, because Jessie insisted upon 
 having her way with "Wendy. 
 
 " She's mine," protested Adele. 
 
 "I don't care. I know all about her better 
 than you. I saw the play and you didn't," this 
 conclusively. 
 
 Adele flung Wendy on the ground and added 
 insult to injury by threatening to chop down Play- 
 mate Polly some night. " And when you get up 
 in the morning, she will be gone forever," said 
 Adele. 
 
 This was too much for Jessie. "You won't 
 dare to do such a thing," she cried. " I shall tell 
 my father never to let you step your foot on the 
 place again. You can just take your old paper 
 dolls and go home." 
 
 Adele arose speechless with rage. She delib- 
 erately tore Tinker Bell into bits and threw the 
 pieces at Jessie, then snatching up Wendy she 
 turned toward home. 
 
 At once Jessie seemed to hear her mother say : 
 " We must be patient with her ; she has no 
 mother." And she was filled with remorse. 
 " Come back, come back," she cried. " I didn't
 
 84 Playmate Polly 
 
 mean it at all. You can have "Wendy do any- 
 thing you like. And it doesn't matter about 
 Tinker Bell. No one ever sees her anyway, for 
 she's just a little twinkling light. One of the 
 candles will do for her. I'm sorry ; I really am, 
 Adele." So peace was made, and the rest of the 
 day passed happily enough. 
 
 "When they went up to the house for dinner 
 Sain met them. " I've got a new pet for you," 
 he said to Jessie. " Come down to the barn 
 after dinner and I'll show you." 
 
 "Oh, what is it? Do tell us," begged Jessie. 
 
 But Sam laughed and walked away, so Jessie 
 knew it was no use to question further, for Sam 
 never would be coaxed to tell. She was in great 
 haste to finish her dinner, but Adele was hungry 
 and seemed to enjoy everything so much that 
 Jessie felt that it would not be polite to hurry 
 her. She did not hesitate, however, to urge 
 Adele to make haste as soon as her last mouth- 
 ful of dessert was swallowed. " Do come right 
 away," she said. "I must see what Sam has. 
 Aren't you wild to know ? I am." 
 
 "What do you think it is?" said Adele. 
 "Maybe he was only fooling."
 
 A New Pet 85 
 
 " No, I am sure he was in earnest. I know 
 Sam well enough for that. He often brings me 
 things, and I have an idea this is something 
 alive." 
 
 The two children were not long in reaching 
 the barn, the big door of which was open. It 
 was a big, roomy place smelling of hay. Three 
 horses stood in their stalls, and as the little girls 
 entered, a brown hen flew cackling from one of 
 the empty mangers. "I'll have Sam get that 
 egg for us," remarked Jessie. " I wonder where 
 he is. Sam ! Sam ! " she called. 
 
 A voice answered from the harness room and 
 Jessie led the way thither. Sam was sitting on 
 a box mending harness. "Here we are," said 
 Jessie. " Show us what you said you had." 
 
 " See if you can find it," said Sam, and Jessie 
 immediately set to work to search. She knew 
 all the corners and crannies, if Adele did not. 
 It was quite like a game, and rather an enter- 
 taining one. Here they came upon a setting hen 
 who had stolen a nest in the hay ; there a squeak- 
 ing mouse would scuttle across the timbers, scar- 
 ing both girls into shrieking. At last they made 
 their discovery, for, as they were searching in
 
 86 Playmate Polly 
 
 front of Barney's stall, directly above their heads 
 something suddenly cried out : " Caw ! " 
 
 The children looked up to see a black crow- 
 looking down at them from a perch in the corner. 
 "Oh, I believe that is it," said Jessie. "Sam! 
 Sam ! is it a crow ? " 
 
 Sam came forward and lifted down the bird 
 which was tethered by a long cord. " Yes," he 
 said. " He is a young one that got a little hurt 
 somehow. I found him in the cornfield. He'll 
 learn to talk after a bit, and I've clipped his 
 wings so he can't fly far. He will get as tame 
 as a dog after a while." 
 
 Jessie put a finger on the shining black head 
 of the crow. " Isn't he funny ? " she said. " It 
 will be perfectly lovely to have a pet who can 
 talk, and I think you are very good, Sam, to bring 
 him to me. Will he say real words, like people ? " 
 
 "He won't be quite as glib as a parrot, maybe, 
 but he will say a number of words, and it won't 
 be long before he will be following you every- 
 where." 
 
 " I don't think he is very pretty," remarked 
 Adele, who was standing at one side and did not 
 seem to care about touching the bird.
 
 A New Pet 87 
 
 " Oh, I think he is," returned Jessie. " He is 
 so jetty black, and has such a knowing look. I 
 like him very much. I don't suppose I can keep 
 him in the house, Sam." 
 
 " Better not, or he'll be playing havoc with 
 things. He'll soon learn to stay around with the 
 chickens, and when you want to have him near 
 you can tether him. I knew one once that was 
 as good as a watch-dog. Let any one come 
 around day or night and he'd set up his Caw ! 
 Caw ! I'll take him out-of-doors for you now. 
 He can't get away very far, but I'd better tether 
 him. Where'll you have him ? " 
 
 "Oh, down by the brook where we play," 
 Jessie told him. 
 
 The two little girls led the way and Sam teth- 
 ered the bird by a long cord. He hopped around 
 contentedly, and soon became tame enough to 
 come quite close to the girls and peck at their 
 feet. "Polly can take care of him, you see," 
 said Jessie. " I think she rather likes birds, at 
 least I've seen her holding them quite often." 
 
 Adele laughed. " You do say such ridiculous 
 things about Polly." 
 
 Jessie paid no attention to this remark but
 
 88 Playmate Polly 
 
 continued her line of thought. "I think she 
 misses my playing with her as much as I used to, 
 so I'll tell her she can play with the crow all she 
 likes. I wonder what we'd better call him. 
 He's as shiny and black as coal ; you know the 
 kind that has all sorts of colors in it. He looks 
 that way when he turns his head." 
 
 " I don't think Coal would be a very pretty 
 name," objected Adele. 
 
 "I don't think so either," Jessie agreed with her. 
 "I'll have to think of something else." They 
 turned over in their minds all the things that 
 suggested blackness or darkness, from ink to 
 thunder-clouds, finally hitting upon Ebony, 
 which was a happy thought of Jessie's who re- 
 membered an ebony chest in her Aunt Lucy's 
 house. " "We can call him Ebon for short," she 
 said. " It is a nice, easy name." 
 
 " And Eb would be still shorter," said Adele. 
 "Hello, Eb." 
 
 The crow responded by putting his head to 
 one side and remarking " Caw ! " in a way which 
 made both girls laugh. 
 
 " When I get the gray kitten," said Jessie, " I 
 shall have two new pets."
 
 A New Pet 89 
 
 " And I haven't any," said Adele wistfully. 
 
 " I am sure Effie Hinsdale would give you one 
 of the kittens," said Jessie. " I'll ask mother if 
 we can go there Saturday. I know she will be 
 glad Effie I mean to get a good home for an- 
 other kitten. There is a gray something like 
 mine and two black ones." 
 
 " I'd rather have black, I think, and I'll call it 
 Velvet," said Adele swift in decision. 
 
 "I've named mine Cloudy," Jessie told her. 
 " We can't have them yet, you know." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " They're not big enough to leave their mother. 
 I thought I saw a cat, a yellow cat, on your 
 porch one morning." 
 
 " Oh, that's the stable cat. He is very wild 
 and won't let me come near him. I'd rather 
 have a kitten anyway." 
 
 "Well, we can go see the kittens at Effie's 
 even if we can't take them just yet, and we shall 
 have the crow." 
 
 " And Polly," put in Adele with a laugh. 
 
 "She isn't a pet; she is a friend," replied Jes- 
 sie with some dignity, feeling that Adele meant 
 to underrate Playmate Polly's importance.
 
 go Playmate Polly 
 
 In a very short time Ebon had become quite 
 tame, and followed the little girls as if he were 
 a dog. He constantly amused them by his 
 funny ways. Although he had not yet learned 
 to talk, Sam declared that he would in time, 
 and meanwhile Adele went with Jessie to see 
 Effie's kittens, and was promised a black one. 
 So from having no companions at all, Jessie felt 
 that she would be very well supplied that win- 
 ter. " There will be you and your kitten, me 
 and my kitten, Polly and Eb," she said to Adele. 
 " That will be a great many of us to play to- 
 gether." 
 
 " Yes, and there will be Miss Eloise and hor- 
 rid lessons," returned Adele. 
 
 Jessie sighed. " Yes," she said, " I have been 
 thinking of that. I wish we could take lessons 
 like pills and have done with them." 
 
 " In jelly ? " 
 
 " No, I'd just gulp them down with water and 
 have some bread and jelly afterward." 
 
 The children were in the sitting-room, having 
 just returned from Effie's. Mrs. Loomis was 
 sitting there sewing. She smiled as she listened 
 to what the children were saying. " I think you
 
 A New Pet 9! 
 
 will be doing just about as you say," she re- 
 marked. " You will swallow down your lessons 
 in the morning, and in the afternoon you will 
 have your bread and jelly in the shape of play. 
 I don't believe you will find the lessons such a 
 terrible dose as you think." 
 
 " Indeed, I hope so," returned Jessie with a 
 sigh. " Come on, Adele ; Peter Pan has lost his 
 shadow again and I must find it." This Peter 
 Pan of Jessie's lost his shadow much more fre- 
 quently that did the original one, for the shadow 
 was nothing but a bit of newspaper fastened by 
 a piece of thread and it was torn off very often. 
 
 " I'm going to have a Peter Pan, too," Adele 
 announced triumphantly. " Aunt Betty has 
 written papa to bring me one the next time he 
 comes." 
 
 " There couldn't be two Peter Pans," said 
 Jessie in an annoyed tone. 
 
 " There could, too. I am sure I have just as 
 much right to name my doll after the Peter Pan 
 as you have. There are hundreds and hundreds 
 of George Washingtons in the world and lots and 
 lots of Grover Clevelands." 
 
 Jessie could not deny this, but she was not
 
 92 Playmate Polly 
 
 pleased with the idea of there being another 
 Peter Pan so close at hand. "If you name 
 your doll Peter Pan, I'll call mine something 
 else," she said, and then she added, " I won't 
 have any use for the grotto, of course, so I will 
 just pull it down." 
 
 "I think you are horrid mean," said Adele. 
 " You know I do love that grotto." 
 
 " Well, you can make one for yourself," said 
 Jessie calmly. " There's just as much stuff 
 for it on your side of the brook as there is on 
 mine." 
 
 The tears rushed to Adele's eyes. "You 
 know I couldn't. I should never know how, 
 and besides your side of the brook has a much 
 better bank." 
 
 " "Well," said Jessie, unmoved, " there simply 
 cannot be two Peter Pans." 
 
 Adele snatched up her hat and ran from the 
 room. Jessie, watching her from the window 
 rather shamefacedly, saw her hurrying down 
 the hill. She waited till Adele had safely 
 crossed the log, then she turned away saying 
 to herself, "There couldn't possibly be two 
 Peter Pans."
 
 CHAPTER 
 A Mystery
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 A Mystery 
 
 LIKE most of their quarrels this between the 
 two little girls did not last long, for the next 
 morning Jessie had scarcely finished breakfast 
 before Adele appeared eager and smiling. 
 " Papa came last night," she said, " and so did 
 Miss Eloise." 
 
 "Then are we to begin taking our pills to- 
 day ? " asked Jessie. 
 
 Adele laughed. "No, not till to-morrow. 
 Aunt Betty and Miss Eloise want to talk, and 
 besides Aunt Betty says Miss Eloise is tired and 
 she mustn't begin to work right away." 
 
 "I thought we were the ones who had to 
 work," remarked Jessie. 
 
 " Don't you suppose it is going to be just as 
 hard for Miss Eloise ? " put in Mrs. Loomis. 
 '' Do you imagine it is going to be very amusing 
 to be shut up with two wilful little girls who 
 don't like lessons ? "
 
 96 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Oh ! " Jessie had never thought of this side 
 of the question. She looked at Adele. 
 
 " Oh," said Adele. Then after a pause. 
 "But she doesn't have to do it if she doesn't 
 want to, and we do have to." 
 
 " Do you think all persons who do their 
 duty in this world really prefer not to do some 
 other thing?" asked Mr. Loomis. "Some per- 
 sons like to teach, I admit, but there are many 
 who have to learn to like teaching just as much 
 as you will have to learn to like studying. So 
 don't imagine it will be all fun for Miss Laurent. 
 From what I can learn Miss Eloise consented to 
 be your teacher because she is a loyal friend, and 
 as your Aunt Betty, Adele, dreaded the thought 
 of having a stranger in the house, Miss Eloise 
 consented to come. She fortunately has a gift 
 for teaching, but she is willing to come to this 
 little country village because she can be of use 
 to Miss Hallett, and because she thinks she can 
 help you little girls. I hope both of you will re- 
 member that, and that you will do nothing to 
 make her sorry that she decided to come." 
 
 This very serious way of taking it made the 
 two little girls feel quite subdued. Adele was
 
 A Mystery 97 
 
 first to recover her spirits. "You don't know 
 what I've got," she sang out as she held some- 
 thing in her hand behind her. 
 
 "Let me see," cried Jessie springing toward 
 her. Adele backed away. 
 
 " Guess," she said. 
 
 Jessie shook her head. " Can't." 
 
 " Something papa brought me." 
 
 " Oh, I know ; a doll." 
 
 Adele displayed her new possession. "Yes, 
 but I am not going to call it Peter Pan, at least, 
 not yet a while, for it is smaller than yours. I 
 don't say I never will, but now I am going to 
 name it after papa." 
 
 " What is his name ? " asked Jessie. 
 
 " James. I shall call my doll Jamie. Come 
 on, let's go down to the grotto. I wish now I 
 hadn't asked for a boy doll ; if it had been a girl 
 one I could have called it Wendy instead of the 
 paper one. Do you know, Jessie, Miss Eloise 
 says that Peter Pan's house was in the tree tops." 
 
 " So it was," Jessie remembered. 
 
 " But I like the grotto better," declared Adele. 
 '* Aren't you ready to go ? " 
 
 " We can't go yet ; the grass is too wet. We'l]
 
 98 Playmate Polly 
 
 have to wait till the sun dries it a little. We 
 can play in here for a while." 
 
 Jessie had not been very enthusiastic over the 
 new doll though she was relieved that it was not 
 exactly like her own, and that Adele had de- 
 cided to call it Jamie. The doll wore a scarlet 
 coat with tiny brass buttons upon it, white 
 trousers and a little red cap. He was quite a 
 pretty little fellow, and Jessie admired him, 
 though she did not say so. When the sun had 
 dried the grass enough the children set forth, 
 Ebon hopping behind them, sometimes taking a 
 short flight with flapping wings. It was a bright 
 autumn morning, the sky very blue and the air 
 pleasant. 
 
 " I'm so glad it isn't raining," remarked Adele, 
 " for it is our last morning." 
 
 "Except Saturday. We shall not study on 
 Saturdays, shall we ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, of course not." 
 
 They had reached the foot of the hill, and 
 Adele made straight for the grotto, but Jessie 
 stopped in front of the little Polly Willow. 
 " Good-morning, Polly," she said, gently patting 
 the rough bark.
 
 A Mystery 99 
 
 Adele watched her, and then said mockingly. 
 " Good-morning, old Polly." Then she ex- 
 claimed, " I know what I'm going to do ; I'm 
 going to have a house for my Peter Pan, and I 
 am going to build it on Polly's head." 
 
 " Indeed you shall not," replied Jessie. " She 
 is mine and I shall not let you. Besides you 
 said you weren't going to call your doll Peter 
 Pan." 
 
 "I said I wasn't at first." 
 
 " This is at first." 
 
 " No, it was at first when I said that ; now it 
 is after a while." 
 
 Jessie turned her back on Adele and it seemed 
 as if their last evening's quarrel would break out 
 afresh. 
 
 " Are you mad, Jessie ? " questioned Adele. 
 
 No answer. 
 
 " Are you, Jessie ? " 
 
 "Yes, I am." The reply came in offended 
 tones. " You know I don't like you to make fun 
 of Polly." 
 
 " Then say you like me best." 
 
 " I have said that." 
 
 " But do you really mean it ? "
 
 loo Playmate Polly 
 
 "Ye-es," rather reluctantly. "At least I do 
 when you don't do me so mean." 
 
 " I won't have the house on Polly's head then. 
 I'll take this high bush." She set the scarlet- 
 coated little figure in a bush close by. "He 
 looks like some red flower there, doesn't he ? I'm 
 going to get something to build the house with." 
 
 " What kind of things ? " 
 
 " Oh, leaves and moss and things." 
 
 " Then I'll stay here and get the grotto in 
 order," Jessie decided. 
 
 " I'm going to make a cradle for Peter Pan," 
 said Adele as she moved off. 
 
 Jessie did not follow, but busied herself in 
 sweeping up, with a bunch of twigs, the bits of 
 earth which had fallen down over night upon 
 the floor of the cave, and in putting the moss 
 into place. Ebon, hopping about, regarded her 
 with his bright eyes, and coming nearer tried to 
 peck at the shining piece of glass which made the 
 lake in the centre of the grotto. "Go away, 
 Eb," cried Jessie. " You are getting too fusty 
 entirely." She shoved him away with her elbow, 
 and he strutted off dipping his head and uttering 
 some protesting caws. After a few minutes
 
 A Mystery ion 
 
 Jessie had the grotto in pretty good order, but 
 concluded a few more pebbles would not come 
 amiss. These must be found in the brook. The 
 water was very clear, and in the shallow parts 
 one could easily get at the pebbles lying at the 
 bottom of the stream. There was a scraggy tree 
 trunk at the water's edge, and on this Jessie sat, 
 holding on to one gnarly root while she reached 
 over to get the pebbles. Brown leaves went 
 drifting by on the stream ; a Bob White called 
 from the grass near by. Jessie nodded under- 
 standingly to Playmate Polly. "You like it, 
 don't you, Polly, or you wouldn't stay here. The 
 idea of any one's building a house on your head. 
 I shall put your hat on and then you will be able 
 to show that you are not just an ordinary tree. 
 But now I must take back my pebbles." 
 
 She gathered up the little stones and returned 
 to the grotto where she went on with her paving 
 till she heard Adele's voice saying: "I have 
 some beauty leaves all red and yellow, and I 
 found some moss, too." Then an exclama- 
 tion : 
 
 " "Why, where is my Peter Pan ? Jessie Loomis, 
 you have hidden him just to tease me."
 
 102 Playmate Polly 
 
 " 'Deed I have not," returned Jessie. " I have 
 been getting pebbles from, the brook." 
 
 " I put him right here on top of this bush," 
 said Adele, " and he's gone, so you must have 
 taken him. You did it on purpose just because 
 you didn't want me to have a Peter Pan." 
 
 "I did not," returned Jessie indignantly. 
 " He could easily have fallen off. Look all 
 around, in the grass and the leaves." 
 
 " Has Mrs. Mooky been here ? " asked Adele. 
 " You know that story of the little Tom Thumb 
 that the cow was going to eat." 
 
 " I believe Mrs. Mooky was somewhere about," 
 Jessie told her. ' No," she remembered, " it 
 wasn't near here that I saw her ; it was on the 
 other side of the fence in the pasture." 
 
 Adele began to hunt around diligently, Jessie 
 joining in the search, but no lost doll was to be 
 found. Once a bunch of scarlet berries on a 
 bush deceived them into thinking that by some 
 mysterious means the doll had been spirited 
 away. " For you know he could fly," said Adele. 
 
 At last they were obliged to give up looking, 
 and Adele went home quite convinced that Jessie 
 knew where the doll was hidden, and Jessie, in
 
 A Mystery 103 
 
 her turn went off up the hill toward the house, 
 hurt and distressed to think that Adele should 
 not have believed her. 
 
 She went back after dinner to renew the 
 search, and became satisfied after a long hunt 
 that Adele had mistaken the bush and that she 
 had put it somewhere else. A hollow stump in 
 the neighborhood seemed the most likely place, 
 but though she managed to climb up where 
 she could peep into the hollow, it was all dark 
 within and a stick poked in did nothing more 
 than scare a chipmunk nearly out of his wits, 
 so that presently he came out chattering and 
 bristling with rage and fear. Jessie went home 
 and told her mother all about it, and after Mrs. 
 Loomis had gone with her to see what she could 
 do, they both concluded that the doll must have 
 fallen far down into this same hollow stump, 
 and that it could not be found unless the stump 
 were grubbed up. 
 
 " Do you think I ought to give her my Peter 
 Pan ? " Jessie asked hesitatingly. " I like him 
 best of all my dolls except Charity." 
 
 " No, I don't think you need do that," her 
 mother told her, " but when I go to town I will
 
 104 Playmate Polly 
 
 try to find one that you can give her to replace 
 this." 
 
 "May I tell her so?" 
 
 "Yes, if you like. I think if you do it will 
 convince her that you spoke the truth." 
 
 " She ought to have believed ine anyhow." 
 
 "Circumstances were against you, my dear. 
 I know it is very hard to be suspected, but there 
 was some reason for Adele's doing so, and I am, 
 sure she will be satisfied when you tell her she 
 is to have another doll." 
 
 " May I go over now and tell her ? " 
 
 " Yes, if you won't stay too long." 
 
 Jessie set off toward the brook. She did not 
 fail to search for the doll as she went, but she 
 stopped to lay her hand upon Playmate Polly 
 and to say : " You would have believed me, 
 Polly. You always do believe me, and I don't 
 think I shall ever tell Adele again that I Uke 
 her best." 
 
 Playmate Polly made no answer, but the 
 murmuring brook sang a little song that Jessie 
 liked and the whispering trees seemed to say : 
 " "We know, we know." The same little chip- 
 munk was sitting on his haunches on top of the
 
 A Mystery 105 
 
 hollow stamp. He chattered fiercely as he saw 
 Jessie, and leaping into the nearest pine tree 
 went whisking off. Jessie was not sure but she 
 liked her favorite playground better without the 
 presence of Adele, and she almost wished the 
 yellow house were still empty. It seemed as if 
 she and Adele were continually at odds, and 
 though Adele professed to care very much for 
 her, she didn't see how it were possible when 
 she doubted her word. 
 
 She went rather slowly through the piece of 
 woods and through the orchard which lay on the 
 other side of the brook. She realized that now 
 she would meet Miss Eloise, and though she 
 wanted much to see what manner of person she 
 was, she rather dreaded the meeting, and be- 
 sides she really did not feel in a very friendly 
 mood toward Adele just then, only she could not 
 have her go on believing untrue things. At 
 last she came out close to the garden fence. 
 She stood still for a moment before she opened 
 the gate and went through. There was no one 
 about, but she heard voices from the front 
 porch, and as she turned the corner of the 
 house she saw that there A\ r ere four persons on
 
 106 Playmate Polly 
 
 the porch, Miss Betty, a strange lady with fair 
 hair who must be Miss Eloise, a man who was 
 probably Adele's father, and Adele herself. 
 Jessie paused where she stood but Adele had 
 heard the click of the gate and had caught sight 
 of the visitor. 
 
 " There she is now," cried Adele. " Have you 
 found him, Jessie ? Have you found him ? " 
 
 Jessie came slowly forward. "No," she 
 said shyly. "Mother helped me to look. We 
 think he must have fallen down into a hollow 
 stump and has gone way down inside, but mother 
 says she is going to town very soon and she will 
 get you another doll just like it." 
 
 Miss Betty was listening. " Indeed she must 
 not do that, Jessie," she said. " A little cheap 
 doll like that is no loss, besides it was not you 
 who lost it, but Adele, and her father can 
 easily get another Vhen he goes back to the 
 city." 
 
 " But," Jessie hesitated, then she turned to Miss 
 Betty. " I want mother to get it so Adele will 
 believe I spoke the truth, that I don't tell stories." 
 Jessie held her head high. 
 
 Miss Betty looked at Adele. " Why, honey,"
 
 A Mystery 107 
 
 she said, " I am sure you never told Jessie that 
 she wasn't truthful." 
 
 Adele nodded. " Hm, hra, I did, because I 
 thought she might have hidden the doll to tease 
 me and because she didn't want me to have a 
 Peter Pan." 
 
 " But she has proved that she does want you 
 to have one by asking her mother to replace the 
 one that is lost, and besides, you told me that you 
 were the last one that had the doll." 
 
 Adele rushed at Jessie and flung her arms 
 around her. " Wasn't I horrid ? " she said. " I'll 
 believe every word you say after this. I suppose 
 you will say," she whispered, " that Polly always 
 has believed you." 
 
 " Yes," Jessie nodded, " she certainly does." 
 
 " I don't care," returned Adele defiantly. " I 
 believe after all that she is a thief, and that she 
 stole ray doll." 
 
 " What are you talking about ? " asked Miss 
 Betty. " You both look as fierce as turke}^-cocks." 
 
 " I'm talking about that old Polly," answered 
 Adele. 
 
 " You absurd children 1 " said Miss Betty laugh- 
 ing. " Come, Jessie, don't you want to meet your
 
 io8 Playmate Polly 
 
 teacher? She is very anxious to meet you. 
 Eloise, dear, this is your other little pupil." 
 
 Jessie was conscious of a pair of gray eyes that 
 looked at her very steadily but very kindly, and 
 of two warm hands that held hers, but she was 
 overcome with shyness and said not a word. 
 
 " Do you think you are going to like her more 
 than you do me ? " Adele asked Miss Eloise anx- 
 iously. 
 
 "You jealous little monkey," said her aunt. 
 " Why shouldn't she like Jessie best ? Don't you 
 want her to ? " 
 
 " I want her to like us both alike," replied 
 Adele. 
 
 " A perfectly safe reply," said Miss Eloise. " I 
 nope I have a place in my heart big enough for 
 both of you, my dears." 
 
 "This is papa," said Adele swinging Jessie 
 around in front of Mr. Hallett, who held out his 
 hand. 
 
 " I hope you and this will-o'-the-wisp of ours 
 will be good friends," he said to Jessie. " She 
 needs some one to tone her down a little, and 
 keep her from having tantrums." He softly pat- 
 ted Adele's hand as he spoke.
 
 A Mystery 109 
 
 " Jessie has tantrums, too," spoke up Adele, 
 " but they are pouty ones, not screamy like mine." 
 
 Jessie blushed and felt greatly embarrassed. 
 She wished Adele were not quite so outspoken. 
 
 " Never mind, dear," said Miss Eloise leaning 
 over and putting her arm around Jessie. " If we 
 don't all have tantrums we all feel like it some' 
 times, and when we were little girls very few of 
 us did not have them. "We generally outgrew 
 them, or learned self-control, and that is what 
 you and Adele will do." 
 
 Jessie looked up gratefully and from that mo- 
 ment liked Miss Eloise. 
 
 So soon did this lady put her at her ease that 
 in a few minutes she found herself talking quite 
 glibly about her home, her pets, and her reasons 
 for leaving school, realizing that she would not 
 in the least mind having lessons the next day. 
 But presently she remembered that she was not 
 to stay too long, so she took her leave, Adele 
 calling after her : " Remember, you are not to 
 get another doll. I won't let you, and I'd rather 
 have a Wendy anyhow."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Taking Pills
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Taking Fills 
 
 IT was with rather mixed feelings that Jessie 
 set out the next morning to begin lessons with 
 Miss Eloise. She didn't enjoy the idea of study- 
 ing, but she did like Miss Eloise and it would be 
 quite a novelty to have but one other schoolmate. 
 She felt rather important, too, from the fact that 
 she was to begin French and music. This last 
 thought gave confidence to her step and bright- 
 ness to her face when she appeared on the porch 
 of the yellow house. 
 
 Adele danced out to meet her. "We're all 
 ready," she said. " Miss Eloise and I have been 
 fixing up the schoolroom, and we have put flow- 
 ers in there so it looks very nice. We are to 
 have a table between us, you and I. You shall 
 choose which end you like best and I will take 
 the other. Elle est ici, mademoiselle," she called 
 out when they reached the top of the stairs, and
 
 114 Playmate Polly 
 
 Jessie suddenly remembered that Adele knew 
 French almost as well as English, and she felt 
 herself very ignorant. 
 
 However, Miss Eloise gave her such a cordial 
 greeting, and the schoolroom was so bright and 
 cheery that she soon forgot everything but her 
 interest in choosing which end of the table she 
 preferred, and in looking at the books Miss 
 Eloise had piled up. They were all fresh and 
 new and Jessie liked new books. " I don't know 
 a word of French," she said when she had 
 seated herself. 
 
 " You need not say that very long," said Miss 
 Eloise. 
 
 "She need not say it five minutes from now," 
 put in Adele. " She can begin with Bon jour, 
 can't she, Miss Eloise? Say Bon jour, Jessie." 
 
 Jessie obediently repeated the words. 
 
 " Now you can say good-day," Adele told her, 
 'and you can't say any more that you don't 
 know a word of French." Then she turned to 
 Miss Eloise and chatted away volubly for a 
 minute or two while Jessie listened and won- 
 dered if she would ever be so glib with a foreign 
 tongue.
 
 Taking Pills 115 
 
 " I think I will make a rule that you are to 
 speak to each other only in French during lesson 
 hours," said Miss Eloise. "That will give you 
 both a chance and Jessie will be surprised how 
 soon she will be able to understand and speak a 
 number of words. Now we will start in with 
 something else. Come here, Jessie, and show me 
 how far you have gone in arithmetic and how 
 well you can spell." 
 
 It turned out that Jessie was far ahead of 
 Adele in these studies, but that the latter knew 
 more history and had a smattering of a number 
 of other things which Jessie knew nothing about. 
 But after a while Miss Eloise managed to ar- 
 range classes for them, dropping some of Adele's 
 studies, which did not seem necessary for the 
 present, and adding some to Jessie's list. But 
 they had hardly settled down to real work be- 
 fore it was time for a morsel of lunch and a fif- 
 teen minutes' run out-of-doors. 
 
 " I don't think those were very bad pills to 
 take," said Jessie as the two sat munching their 
 apples on the porch steps. 
 
 " They will be worse after a while, I suppose," 
 said Adele. " Wait till you have to sit at the
 
 1 16 Playmate Polly 
 
 piano and practice stupid exercises half an hour 
 at a time. You won't like that one bit." 
 
 " I suppose not," returned Jessie with a 
 sigh. " But you don't have to do that all the 
 time, do you? You will have pieces after a 
 while." 
 
 " Oh, after a fashion, but they are not what I 
 call tunes," she said scornfully. 
 
 This sounded very discouraging, but Jessie 
 was not going to give up hope. " Maybe some 
 teachers do that way," she said, " but I don't be- 
 lieve Miss Eloise will." 
 
 " Wait and see," returned Adele with a wise 
 shake of the head. 
 
 The tinkle of a little bell took them indoors to 
 lessons again, and the next hour or two passed 
 quickly, and to Jessie's surprise very pleasantly. 
 " It is much nicer than going to the Hill School," 
 she told her mother. " I know a whole lot of 
 French and some of my notes on the piano. 
 "When I know them all am I going to have a 
 piano, mother?" 
 
 " Not at present," Mrs. Loomis told her. " You 
 are to practice on Adele's piano for a while. 
 Pianos are rather expensive things and we shall
 
 Taking Pills 117 
 
 have to save up a lot of eggs and butter before 
 we can buy one." 
 
 " Adele is richer than I am, isn't she, mother ? " 
 
 "In some things, perhaps, but she has no 
 mother nor brothers." 
 
 Jessie threw her arms around her mother's 
 neck and gave her a mighty hug. "And you 
 are worth all the money in the world," she said. 
 " My two brothers are pretty far away, but I do 
 see them sometimes, and that's much better than 
 not having any at all. Yes, I believe I am much 
 richer than Adele. She hasn't any pets either. 
 Where is Eb, mother ? " 
 
 "Oh, my dear, I don't know. He is out-of- 
 doors somewhere. We cannot have him in the 
 house very often, for he gets into so much mis- 
 chief." 
 
 Jessie went out to find Eb, but not seeing him 
 near, she concluded to go to Playmate Polly and 
 tell her all about her morning at the yellow 
 house, for Polly was always a good listener. It 
 was rather pleasant, too, to feel free to do exactly 
 as she liked after the restriction of a morning in 
 the schoolroom. 
 
 She was sitting on a big rock talking quietly
 
 ii8 Playmate Polly 
 
 in an undertone to Polly, when with a whoop and 
 a hallo two boys came vaulting over the fence 
 and rushed toward her. For a moment Jessie 
 was so startled that she could give only little 
 shrieks, but these soon changed to a squeal of 
 delight when she discovered the two intruders 
 to be her brothers, Max and Walter. " Oh ! 
 oh ! " she cried. " Where did you come from, 
 and how do you happen to be home to- 
 day ? " 
 
 " Why, it is just a piece of luck for us," said 
 Max catching her up and kissing her. " One of 
 the boys, Carl Potter, is ill with something, the 
 doctor doesn't know just what yet, and so he 
 thought we boys had better come home for a 
 few days till he finds out whether it is diph- 
 theria or not. Of course I don't mean it is luck 
 for old Carl, but it gives us a holiday." 
 
 "I hope it isn't diphtheria," said Jessie sym- 
 pathetically, " though it is nice to have you home ; 
 it does seem so quiet without you. I have a 
 thousand things to tell you." 
 
 " Fire away," said Max. 
 
 " Well, I don't go to the Hill School any more, 
 but I have lessons with Adele she lives in the
 
 Taking Pills 119 
 
 yellow house, you know. I know some French 
 Ifonjour, monsieur. Comme portez vous f " 
 
 " Pshaw ! " interrupted "Walter. " I can beat 
 that with Latin." 
 
 " Let's hear you," said Jessie. 
 
 " Stop your fooling," put in Max. " Don't be 
 such a blower, Walter. I know just about how 
 much Latin you know. Never mind him, Jess, 
 go on." 
 
 " I have begun music, too," Jessie turned to her 
 elder brother, " and some day I shall have a piano 
 when mother can save enough butter and eggs to 
 get me one." 
 
 " That will be fine," said Max encouragingly. 
 
 " Then you don't see old Ezra any more," said 
 Walter, "and can't tell us anything about the 
 trains and the engines." 
 
 " No." Jessie shook her head. " I haven't 
 been to see him. He had rheumatism, and I 
 fell on the track one day ; that's why I stopped 
 going to school. There is a cross man in Ezra's 
 place and I don't like him." 
 
 " I say, that's too bad," said Max. " Old Ezra 
 is always so good-natured about letting you flag 
 trains and things."
 
 io Playmate Polly 
 
 " I've got a crow," suddenly exclaimed Jessie, 
 " and his name is Eb. That's short for Ebony. 
 He doesn't talk yet, but he is going to, Sam says. 
 I think he must be up in the barn. Come, and 
 I'll show him to you. I have a new friend, too. 
 Her name is Adele Pauline Falaise Hallett, and 
 she lives in the yellow house." 
 
 "Mother wrote to us that the yellow house 
 was taken," said "Walter. " I'm sorry, for now 
 we fellows can't go there and play in that empty 
 barn like we used to." 
 
 " I thought Effie Hinsdale was your best 
 friend," said Max to his sister. 
 
 "Effie is a friend, of course, but she lives across 
 the railroad, and I can't go to see her unless 
 some one goes with me. Besides, she has a new 
 friend, too ; a girl named Anna Sharp that has 
 come to the neighborhood, so Effie don't mind 
 being second best. She has a gray kitten that is 
 to be mine when it is big enough." 
 
 "Girls are always so crazy about cats and 
 kittens," said Walter scornfully. "I'd much 
 rather have the crow." 
 
 " Well, you can't have him. Sam brought him 
 to me," returned Jessie a little sharply. Boys
 
 Taking Pills 121 
 
 were entirely too fond of making slighting re- 
 marks about girls, she thought. 
 
 " Ob, keep your old crow," returned Walter. 
 " No doubt you'll be glad enough to get rid of 
 him some day." 
 
 " Why ? " asked Jessie. 
 
 " Wait and see," replied Walter mysteriously. 
 " Say, Max, let's go see old Ezra. Maybe he is 
 all right now, and I want to know about the 
 trains. We'll see enough of the old crow, and 
 it is a good time to go to Ezra's." 
 
 " I want to go, too," said Jessie. 
 
 " Well, you can't," returned Walter. " We 
 don't want girls tagging everywhere we go." 
 
 " Oh, let her come," put in Max. " You might 
 be a little more decent to her the first day you 
 get home. You can come, Jess." Max was the 
 eldest and Walter generally accepted his lead, 
 so Jessie put her hand confidingly in her big 
 brothers and they set out. She thought Walter 
 was very disagreeable to speak to her as he did 
 when he had been separated from her all these 
 weeks, and she took pains not to address a word 
 to him on the way. She chatted to Max, how- 
 ever talking of the things she knew would in-
 
 122 Playmate Polly 
 
 terest him : the change in the schedule, how 589 
 was very late one day, and how she had flagged 
 a train one afternoon, how 248 had a hot box 
 one morning so it had to stop on a siding. When 
 Walter put eager questions to her she simply 
 gave him a dignified stare and went on talking 
 to Max. Her triumph was complete when they 
 arrived at the crossing to find that Ezra was 
 back again at his post and that his best greeting 
 was for the little girl. 
 
 " Well, well, well," he exclaimed, " here you 
 are at last. I certainly have missed you, little 
 girl. Not going to school any more ? I was 
 afraid you might be sick. Been watching for 
 ye every day since I got over my rheumatiz. 
 When you going to start again ? Hallo, boys." 
 He gave a nod to each, but it was plain to see 
 that it was Jessie who had the warmest welcome. 
 
 "I've stopped going to school," Jessie told 
 him. "You weren't here, you know, Ezra, so 
 father and mother were afraid to have me cross 
 the track.* I tripped and fell one day when the 
 train was coming." 
 
 " Pshaw ! " exclaimed Ezra. " Sykes never 
 told me of that. I was in such misery I couldn't
 
 Taking Fills 123 
 
 think about much else but my pains for a while. 
 You don't say you ain't going back at all ? " 
 
 " Not this winter," Jessie told him. " I am 
 studying with Adele Hallett at the yellow 
 house." 
 
 "They're new folks, ain't they? Well, I cer- 
 tainly am sorry to lose the sight of ye every day. 
 It is too bad Sykes had to take my place or ye 
 might be mounting the hill every morning just 
 the same as usual. Father kne\v I'd look out for 
 ye, didn't he ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes. He said as long as you were there 
 he didn't have any fear, even if the trains were 
 changed. But after I fell that day when the 
 train was coming, mother said she would never 
 feel easy again." 
 
 " Too bad, too bad. I am sorry." Ezra took 
 off his cap and wiped his bald head with a red 
 handkerchief. He was a little wrinkled-faced 
 old man with mild blue eyes. He wore a little 
 fringe of beard under his chin, and his pleasant 
 mouth always widened to a smile for his friends. 
 " Eight warm day for October, ain't it ? " he said 
 pulling up his stool which stood by the door of 
 the little house. " Wish I had more chairs to
 
 124 Playmate Polly 
 
 offer ye. Guess ladies will have to come first." 
 He waved Jessie to the stool. 
 
 " Oh, no." Jessie refused the proffered seat. 
 " We'd rather you'd sit there, Ezra. The boys 
 and I can do just as well with these railroad ties 
 that are piled up here. Has 589 gone by yet ? " 
 
 Ezra took out his watch. " She's due in just 
 five minutes. I thought I heard her whistling 
 for Boyds a while ago. She's on time to-day." 
 
 " May I hold the flag ? " said Jessie eagerly. 
 " It has been such a long time since I did." 
 
 "To be sure ye may," returned Ezra, taking 
 the flag from where it stood leaning against the 
 door. " Yes, I thought so ; she's whistling for 
 the cut." 
 
 So far Jessie had monopolized the conversation 
 and now Walter spoke up. " Have they put on 
 any new engines, Ezra ? " 
 
 He shook his head. " No, Leander still runs 
 old 61 and keeps her shining." 
 
 " Any accidents ? " asked Max. 
 
 " Glad to say ther hain't. Come near being one 
 down by Millersville the other day." 
 
 " Tell us about it." 
 
 " Have to wait till 589 has went by. Here,
 
 Taking Pills 125 
 
 honey," he turned to Jessie. " Get up and be all 
 ready. She'll whistle in a minute for our 
 crossing." 
 
 Jessie took her place on the stool set for her, 
 flag in hand, Ezra standing close by, and pres- 
 ently there was a shrill whistle and next the 
 train flew by. 
 
 " It is so exciting," said Jessie turning a beam- 
 ing face to her brothers. 
 
 " Humph ! " exclaimed Walter in rather a dis- 
 satisfied way. He did not like it that Jessie 
 should be having all the fun. " What about the 
 accident ? " he said turning to Ezra. 
 
 " There wasn't none." 
 
 " Well, I mean the one that nearly was." 
 
 Ezra launched forth into an account of how 
 the freight train from the west was on the track 
 and a special was behind her. Somehow Bill 
 Downs didn't get the orders clear and backed 
 into a siding just in time to avoid a crash. " Ee- 
 versed, sir," said Ezra. " Heard the special 
 whistle at the cut and put on steam so he reached 
 the siding in time to back. If he'd been a second 
 later all would have been up." 
 
 The children listened attentively. Bill Downs
 
 126 Playmate Polly 
 
 was a familiar figure to them, and his engine an 
 old acquaintance, so his escape was of momentous 
 interest. 
 
 After a little more railroad gossip the boys 
 concluded it was time to return, as the sun was 
 setting and the short afternoon was nearly over. 
 "Come again, come again," said Ezra, his eyes 
 on Jessie who waved her hand to him till a turn 
 in the road hid him from sight. 
 
 "I wish I had taken him some apples," she 
 said. " His trees have hardly any on them this 
 year, and he is so fond of them." 
 
 "We'll take some to him to-morrow," said 
 Walter importantly. " You needn't bother." 
 
 " I thought of it first," said Jessie, not liking 
 to have her ideas taken possession of in this 
 style. 
 
 " That makes no difference," returned Walter. 
 " The few you could carry wouldn't do much 
 good. Max and I can take a big basketful." 
 
 Jessie did not answer, but she determined to 
 carry out her plan if she could. If going away 
 to school made Walter like this she didn't think 
 it was doing him much good. The boys left her 
 at the first gate for they caught sight of their
 
 Taking Fills 127 
 
 father in a field near by, and joined him, so Jessie 
 went up to the house alone. She sought her 
 mother immediately. "Mother," she said, "I 
 wish you would send Walter to another school." 
 
 " Why, my dear," returned Mrs. Loomis, look- 
 ing up with a smile. 
 
 " Because he's so so he has such a con- 
 temptibleness for girls since he's been away. He 
 used not to care when I wanted to go with him 
 and Max, and now he is at home again he just 
 wants to put me down all the time. I said I 
 wanted to take some apples to Ezra, and he says 
 he is going to. I thought of it first, mother, and 
 Ezra has been so good to me. Couldn't you let 
 Sam go with me to-morrow morning, and carry 
 a big basketful, bigger than Walter and Max 
 could carry ? " 
 
 Mrs. Loomis was thoughtful for a moment. 
 She realized that Walter had no right to set aside 
 Jessie's little plan, so she said, " I am afraid 
 Sam cannot be spared, but I will tell you what 
 can be done. I have to go to Mrs. Traill's to- 
 morrow morning, and you could go as far as the 
 crossing with me. We can carry a big basket of 
 apples in the phaeton and leave them for Ezra,
 
 128 Playmate Potty 
 
 then you can go on to your lessons from 
 there." 
 
 " Oh, lovely ! " cried Jessie. " You al \vays do 
 think of just the right thing, mother. Will you 
 tell Walter we are going to take the apples ? " 
 
 " Yes, and I think it is right that you should 
 be the one to go with them, for we appreciate 
 very much his kindness to you." 
 
 No more was said then, but at the supper table 
 Mrs. Looinis told her husband what had been ar- 
 ranged and asked him to select a lot of their 
 finest apples for the basket. Jessie gave Walter 
 a triumphant look across the table. He answered 
 by making a mouth at her, but she did not care 
 as she had her mother on her side. 
 
 " Sneaky thing," whispered Walter as she passed 
 him after supper. 
 
 "Sneaky yourself," returned Jessie. "I told 
 mother how horrid you were." 
 
 " Tattletale," returned Walter. " Just like a 
 girl." 
 
 This time Jessie had no words except the ex- 
 pressive exclamation " Pff ! " given with a most 
 contemptuous toss of the head.
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 Dapple Gra$
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Dapple Gray 
 
 THE rest of the time that the boys were at 
 home Jessie did not see much of them. She found 
 so many things to interest her at the yellow 
 house, that she enjoyed the novelty of it, and 
 moreover, when she was there she was free from 
 Walter's teasing, so she spent most of her time 
 with Adele, to the latter's delight. 
 
 The afternoon of the day when the apples were 
 taken to Ezra, the two little girls sought their 
 playground by the brook, but Max and Walter 
 discovered them, and as they did not want their 
 secrets known, they quickly covered up the 
 grotto and beat a hasty retreat across the brook. 
 " I don't mind Max so much," Jessie explained, 
 "though even he teases sometimes, but Walter 
 is such a worry when he sets out to be, and if he 
 knew about Playmate Polly and Peter Pan's 
 grotto he would be sure to do something to them 
 just to pay me back for taking the apples. So
 
 132 Playmate Potty 
 
 we will play in your garden or the summer-house. 
 I will take Charity and you can get one of your 
 dolls." 
 
 " The back porch is a good place," returned 
 Adele. "I am sorry your brothers aren't nice 
 and I am glad I haven't any." 
 
 " But they are nice," returned Jessie on the de- 
 fensive. "They are very nice. All boys tease 
 and Max was lovely the other day when I wanted 
 to go with them. He is older than Walter. I 
 suppose that is the reason. Since "Walter has 
 been going to boarding-school he thinks himself 
 so smart." 
 
 The two little girls trudged up the hill toward 
 the yellow house and as they entered the garden 
 they heard some one calling, " Adele ! Adele ! 
 where are you ? " 
 
 " That's Aunt Betty," said Adele. " I wonder 
 what she wants." 
 
 " Let's go see," returned Jessie. 
 
 They ran around the corner of the house. 
 Miss Betty and Miss Eloise were both on the 
 front porch. By the steps was standing a little 
 gray pony harnessed to a small pony cart. " Oh, 
 dear, company, I suppose," said Adele disgustedly.
 
 Dapple Gray 133 
 
 " I wish we'd stayed away. I suppose now I shall 
 have to be kissed and called a sweet child." 
 
 " I wonder who it is," said Jessie more curious. 
 " That turnout does not belong to any one around 
 here. I know just what every one drives. Effie 
 Hinsdale's mother has a white horse ; the minis- 
 ter's wife drives a sorrel ; Mrs. Traill has two 
 black horses and " 
 
 But she went no further for Miss Betty had 
 seen the two children and was calling out, " Come 
 here, dears, such a lovely surprise for you ! 
 Whose do you think that is, Adele ? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know. It isn't the cousins 
 from the city, is it, Aunt Bet ? " said Adele. 
 
 " No." Miss Betty shook her head. " It be- 
 longs to the cousin of the cousins from the city." 
 
 Adele looked bewildered. " Who is that ? " 
 
 Miss Betty laughed. "Who is your cousins' 
 cousin ? Don't you know ? " 
 
 "Aunt Betty, you don't mean me!" cried 
 Adele. " It isn't mine. It couldn't possibly be." 
 
 " That is exactly whose it is," Miss Betty told 
 her. " Your father has sent it to you for a birth- 
 day gift." 
 
 " But my birthday is past and gone."
 
 134 Playmate Polly 
 
 " That is true. Ho couldn't get what he 
 wanted at once, so he had to wait, and so your 
 present has just arrived." 
 
 Adele rushed forward and clasped the pony's 
 neck. "Oh, you dear beautiful thing," she 
 cried. "I love you. Oh, Jessie, isn't he a 
 beauty ? " 
 
 Jessie could but agree that he certainly was. 
 
 " And can I drive him myself ? " asked Adele 
 eagerly. 
 
 " When you learn how," she was told. 
 
 " I can drive," declared Jessie. " I often drive 
 when I am out with mother." 
 
 " Your father says he is very gentle," remarked 
 Miss Eloise to Adele. 
 
 "Then couldn't we try him now?" begged 
 Adele. 
 
 " Couldn't Jessie drive him just a little way to 
 see how he goes?" 
 
 Miss Betty looked at Miss Eloise. "Do you 
 think it would be safe ? " she said. 
 
 " Can you really drive, Jessie ? " asked Miss 
 Eloise. 
 
 " I truly can," Jessie told her. " I often drive 
 all the way. I can turn out for the big teams
 
 Dapple Gray 135" 
 
 and I can drive in through the gates as straight 
 as anything." 
 
 "Then you may jump in and show us what 
 you can do," Miss Betty consented, and the little 
 girls were not slow in obeying. 
 
 " How far may we go ? " asked Jessie taking 
 up the reins. 
 
 " Oh, not out of sight. Just up and down the 
 road where we can see you," Miss Betty directed. 
 
 Jessie proudly turned the pony's head toward 
 the gate, drove through without accident, and 
 soon the little pony was trotting up the road. 
 Miss Betty and Miss Eioise came to the gate to 
 watch. Jessie turned carefully and brought the 
 pony back in triumph. 
 
 "Can't she drive well?" said Adele admir- 
 ingly. " She is going to teach me, and when she 
 isn't here to do it Otto can." Otto was the Hal- 
 letts' man. " What shall I name him, Aunt 
 Betty?" 
 
 " Why not call him Dapple Gray ? " suggested 
 Miss Eioise. 
 
 " Good ! That will just suit him, but I shall 
 never lend him to a lady to ride him far awaj> 
 Oh, no, we don't want to get out yet."
 
 136 Playmate Polly 
 
 "But the little pony must be tired. He has 
 come a long distance to-day." 
 
 That put another face upon the matter and 
 Adele was quite willing that Jessie should give 
 up the reins to Otto who led Dapple Gray to the 
 stable. 
 
 " I never knew such lovely things as happen 
 nowadays," said Adele as she and Jessie returned 
 to the garden. " First I met you and we had 
 the lovely plays down by the brook, then came 
 Eb, and now this dear Dapple Gray ! Before I 
 came here weeks and weeks used to go by and 
 nothing at all happened. I do hope we can go 
 driving every day by ourselves ; it would be such 
 fun." 
 
 "Within a week Adele had learned to manage 
 her pony pretty well, and the two little girls 
 were allowed to take a short drive each day, 
 not going out of sight of the house, but in time 
 Adele tired of this and was bent upon going 
 farther. She begged and entreated till Miss 
 Betty was on the point of yielding, and at last 
 agreed to take a longer drive than usual in her 
 own carriage that Adele and Jessie might follow 
 in the pony cart. This satisfied Adele for a
 
 Dapple Gray 137 
 
 week, but there came a day when Miss Betty 
 had one of her severe headaches, and Miss Eloise 
 was not willing to leave her, so the two little 
 girls were told they could take their drive alone, 
 but must not go out of sight. 
 
 They started off contentedly enough, but soon 
 Adele became tired of the monotonous drive up 
 and down in front of the house. " Miss Eloise is 
 with Aunt Betty and I know she isn't thinking 
 about us," she said. " We may just as well go a 
 little further and she will never know. It is so 
 silly to go up and down, up and down, this 
 stupid road and nowhere else." 
 
 "Oh, but it wouldn't be right, whether she 
 sees us or not," protested Jessie. 
 
 " There isn't a bit of harm in it," Adele in- 
 sisted. " We go every day, and just because we 
 are not with them it doesn't matter. I am going 
 further whether any one likes it or not." She 
 gave a little jerk to the reins and Dapple Gray 
 started off on a trot. The excitement of a faster 
 gait stirred Adele to further desire for a rapid 
 drive. " I am tired to death of this old road," 
 she declared. " I want to go somewhere new. 
 I am going to turn up this way."
 
 138 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Oh, no, please don't," begged Jessie. 
 
 " You needn't say a word," Adele interrupted. 
 " You haven't a thing to do with it. This is my 
 pony and my cart, and you have to do it to sit 
 still. You are my company and I am taking you 
 to drive." 
 
 Jessie felt that this was quite true, though she 
 knew that Adele was doing wrong. She realized 
 that she ought to do something, but she did not 
 know just what. If she insisted upon, getting 
 out and going home she would leave Adele all 
 alone, and that would be worse than staying to 
 help her out of any difficulty into which she 
 might fall. " Perhaps I'd better drive," she ven- 
 tured after a while when Adele had recklessly 
 driven over a big stone and had almost bumped 
 into a stump by the way. 
 
 "No, you shall not," returned Adele. "The 
 only way to learn to do a thing is to keep on do- 
 ing it, no matter if you do it wrong sometimes. 
 Papa always says so." 
 
 Jessie had nothing to reply to this, but she 
 watched Adele carefully. They were coming to 
 a hill. Jessie looked around earnestly. " Oh ! " 
 she exclaimed, "do be careful, Adele. "We are
 
 Dapple Gray 139 
 
 coming to the cut. It is at the foot of this 
 hill. We came by the mill, I remember, and this 
 leads by the old schoolhouse. We'd better turn 
 and go back." 
 
 " No, thank you," replied Adele, " I'm going 
 on. If you are scared you can get out and 
 walk." 
 
 Jessie's feelings were deeply hurt. She wasn't 
 exactly scared, but she knew at the foot of the 
 hill was the railroad cut, and though there was 
 always some one there, if the horse took fright, 
 or if anything happened to the cart or harness, 
 it might mean an accident. " We have to cross 
 the railroad," she said after a pause. 
 
 " Well, suppose we do ; other people cross it," 
 was the answer. 
 
 " Hold him in," cried Jessie sharply, clutching 
 at the reins as Dapple Gray went down the hill 
 at a more rapid rate than she felt safe. 
 
 " Just let me alone," cried Adele giving Dapple 
 Gray a light touch with the whip. 
 
 " Don't 1 Don't ! " cried Jessie, but Adele only 
 laughed, and directly they were at the foot of 
 the hill where the railroad ran. Instead of tak- 
 ing a clean straight course across it, Adele tried
 
 140 Playmate Polly 
 
 to drive diagonally. " There's a whistle," cried 
 Jessie in alarm. Adele raised the whip again. 
 Dapple Gray made a plunge forward. A wheel 
 caught and presently Jessie was conscious that 
 she was rolling down an embankment. Then she 
 knew nothing for some time. 
 
 When she came to her senses, she was lying in 
 a little gully among some bushes. She raised 
 her head and then struggled to her feet. " No 
 bones broken," she said to herself, though she 
 felt shaken and sore. She stood up and looked 
 around. At a little distance she saw Adele sit- 
 ting sobbing miserably. She ran toward her as 
 fast as her bruises would allow. " Oh, Adele ! 
 Adele ! " she cried, " are you hurt ? " 
 
 " Oh ! my arm, my arm," moaned Adele. " I 
 believe it is broken." 
 
 " Oh, dear, dear, how dreadful," responded 
 Jessie. " Where is Dapple Gray ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 Jessie climbed the bank and there saw Dapple 
 Gray patiently standing, a broken wheel showing 
 what had happened. The wheel had caught in 
 the track and although both girls were thrown 
 out as the wheel gave way the little pony had
 
 Dapple Gray 141 
 
 not bolted, but stood his ground. Jessie went up 
 to him, and began to unfasten the harness. "It 
 won't do for you to stand so near the track," she 
 said. " You were a dear good pony not to run. 
 The cart isn't on the track, I am glad to say." 
 She led the pony down the bank to where Adele 
 sat. " We are quite a way from home," she said. 
 " Shall you be afraid to stay here while I go for 
 some one to take us back ? " 
 
 " Oh, don't leave me, don't leave me," Adele 
 wept. 
 
 " If you could come up a little higher, you 
 could watch me as I go," said Jessie. " Ezra 
 lives the nearest, and I am going down the track 
 to call him." Adele, still moaning and crying, 
 allowed herself to be led to a higher spot. " I 
 don't think there will be any more trains for 
 some time," Jessie assured her, " and if you stay 
 right here you can watch me going and coming. 
 I will be as quick as I can." 
 
 Adele suffered herself to be left and Jessie set 
 out. Further down the railroad spanned a gully 
 through which ran the brook. The only way to 
 cross it was upon a narrow board walk on one 
 side the bridge, this being used by the workmen
 
 142 Playmate Polly 
 
 as a short cut. The longer way was to go down 
 hill and around to a foot-bridge higher up the 
 brook. Jessie hesitated when she reached the 
 path which led down hill. Should she go that 
 way, or should she venture across the railroad 
 bridge? If she did not look down and hold 
 closely to the railing, perhaps it would not be so 
 bad. She decided to try. So she stepped cau- 
 tiously upon the planks and went on slowly, 
 doing very well till she reached the middle, when 
 incautiously she glanced down at the rushing 
 water below. For one moment she felt sick and 
 faint. Everything swam around. Then she 
 closed her eyes and held tightly to the railing, 
 stepping along slowly, each moment seeming an 
 hour. In a few minutes her heart stopped its 
 rapid beating and her head felt steady, so she 
 opened her eyes and fixed them on the opposite 
 bank, not once turning them from there, and at 
 last she was safely over. 
 
 A little beyond was Ezra's house with its smil- 
 ing garden and white fence. Although sh i felt 
 sore and bruised she began to run, forge ttinj her 
 pain in her anxiety to reach the house. Ti A^as 
 about Ezra's supper time; there would In no
 
 Dapple Gray 143 
 
 trains coming or going at this time of day, and 
 she would be sure to find the old man at home. 
 So she began to call, " Ezra ! Ezra ! " and presently 
 she saw his gray head over the fence. 
 
 He opened the gate and came out to meet her. 
 " Why, little girl ! " he exclaimed, " what are you 
 doing on this road ? 'Tain't your way from home. 
 Why, your face is cut and you're all mussed up. 
 Tumble down ? " 
 
 " Oh, Ezra ! Ezra ! " cried Jessie, seizing his hand, 
 " the pony cart upset us over the bank there by 
 the cut, and Adele has hurt her arm. The pony 
 is all right. He is standing just as still, but the 
 cart-wheel is off so we can't get home, at least I 
 don't know how to get Adele and the pony home." 
 
 " Where did you say they were ? " asked Ezra. 
 
 " On the other side of the gully, there by the 
 cut." 
 
 " You didn't come over the railroad bridge ? " 
 
 " Yes, it was the shortest way," said Jessie 
 simply. 
 
 Ezra uttered an exclamation. " You poor lit- 
 tle tot, what would your mother say ? Suppose 
 you had slipped under the hand-rail and had fallen 
 into the water ? "
 
 1 44 Playmate Polly 
 
 " I shut my eyes when I got dizzy." 
 
 "Humph! Well, you don't go back, that's 
 all. Come right in here and let my daughter 
 straighten you out, wash off that poor little bat- 
 tered up face. Mark and I will go get the pony 
 and the little girl. What do ye say her name is ? " 
 
 "Adele. Adele Hallett." 
 
 Ezra nodded. " Belongs to the yellow house. 
 What ye been doing driving off in that direction 
 by yourselves, is what I want to know." 
 
 Jessie was silent. She did not like to blame 
 Adele, though she knew it was entirely her 
 fault. " I told Adele I'd hurry back," she said. 
 
 " You're not going back," declared Ezra. 
 " I'll look after that young miss myself. Come 
 right in the house. Here, Kitty," he spoke to a 
 young woman at the door. " Here's Miss Loomis 
 that brought us those good apples. She's had an 
 accident up the road a piece. Her and a young 
 miss was out driving, and as far as I can make 
 out they got catched on the railroad and a wheel 
 came off. You tidy her up a bit while Mark and 
 me goes after the other one." 
 
 Jessie had often seen Ezra's daughter as well 
 as her husband Mark, and she was quite willing
 
 Dapple Gray 145 
 
 to be taken indoors to have her face bathed, the 
 dirt brushed from her clothes and herself gen- 
 erally looked after. There was a tremendous 
 bruise on her leg, one stocking was badly torn, 
 and the side of her face was scraped and sore 
 where she had fallen against the bank. 
 
 " It's lucky you weren't killed outright," said 
 Kitty, when by dint of much questioning she 
 learned how the thing happened. " Pappy'll be 
 back in no time. You just set still and wait for 
 him. I reckon your ma'll be glad to see you 
 alive when she hears what's went on." 
 
 She established Jessie in a chair by the window 
 and continued her preparations for supper. In a 
 very short time Ezra and Mark were back again 
 with Adele in the wagon and Dapple Gray be- 
 hind it. " I conclude she has broken her arm," 
 said Ezra to his daughter as he came into the 
 house. " There ain't no time to lose in getting 
 her to the doctor to have it sot, so I think the 
 quickest way is to drive her right to Dr. Sadtler's 
 and let him see what's wrong. I ain't said 
 nothin' to her about what I think." 
 
 " Pore little thing," said Kitty, " she looks real 
 white."
 
 146 Playmate Polly 
 
 Jessie had flown to Adele. " I couldn't come," 
 she exclaimed. " Ezra wouldn't let me. Do you 
 feel any better ? " 
 
 "No." Adele shook her head and her tears 
 broke out afresh. " I want to go home, I want 
 to go home," she sobbed. 
 
 Ezra came out before Jessie had time for an- 
 other word. " You stay here, honey," he said to 
 Jessie. " I'll take this young lady to the doctor 
 and let him fix her up so she'll feel better and 
 then we'll come back for you." 
 
 But Adele wailed out, " Go with me, Jessie. 
 Go with me. I don't want to see the doctor all 
 alone." 
 
 " Ezra will be with you," said Jessie who was 
 feeling rather shaky herself. 
 
 " Yes, sir, Ezra will be right with you," said 
 that person, "and moreover this young miss isn't 
 to go ; she isn't fit, all bruised up as she is. You 
 won't be alone, bless you, child. There ain't a 
 kinder woman in the country than Mrs. Sadtler, 
 and she'll mother you fine. You'll be all right in 
 no time. No, you don't!" he stopped Jessie 
 from climbing into the wagon. Mark had un- 
 fastened Dapple Gray and had tied him to the
 
 Dapple Gray 147 
 
 hhching-post. " We'll go for the cart after a 
 vr bile," said Ezra gathering up the reins. " You 
 vrait here, child, and I'll be back as quick as I 
 Can." So Jessie was obliged to see Adele drive 
 * if while she was left to Kitty's tender mercies.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 The Gray Kitten
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 The Gray Kitten 
 
 IT was a very subdued and wan little Adele who 
 was helped into the house by the doctor, who re- 
 mained to explain the situation, while Ezra took 
 Jessie home. Poor Miss Betty was overcome at 
 sight of her niece with her arm in splints and 
 looking so pale. " Child ! child ! " she cried. 
 " What has happened ? We have been so anxious 
 about you. At first we thought you had gone 
 home with Jessie, but Otto said he saw you 
 driving in an opposite direction." She turned to 
 the doctor. " What has happened ? " she asked 
 tremulously. 
 
 " It seems the young ladies were crossing the 
 track just there by the cut and the wheel caught 
 in the track, upsetting their cart and throwing 
 them out. Fortunately there is no worse dam- 
 age done than a broken arm and a broken cart." 
 
 " The horse ran away ! " exclaimed Miss Betty. 
 
 " Not a bit of it. Fine little beast that he is,
 
 J 52 Playmate Polly 
 
 he stood stock still. Little Loomis girl was 
 thrown into some bushes. She was stunned by 
 the fall, but seems all right otherwise except for 
 a few bruises. She was a little Trojan, Ezra 
 Limpett tells me, and tramped across that dan- 
 gerous railroad bridge to get help. You'd better 
 have this child put to bed, Miss Hallett, and I see 
 you look rather the worse for wear yourself." 
 
 " I've had one of my headaches," replied Miss 
 Betty, passing her hand over her forehead. 
 
 " Humph ! Fine time to take for explorations. 
 I gather that's what the youngsters were doing. 
 At least my wife says so." The doctor spoke as 
 if he had no patience with such doings. 
 
 Miss Betty turned a troubled face upon Adele. 
 " Oh, my child, how could you ? " she exclaimed. 
 "Didn't you know we do not allow you to go 
 out of sight of the house ? " 
 
 Adele burst into loud sobs. " There, there," 
 said Miss Betty, soothingly ; " I am sure you have 
 had punishment enough, and I won't scold, but I 
 wish your father had never bought you that pony. 
 I shall never have an easy day after this." 
 
 "The pony is all right," declared the doctor. 
 " He had the good sense not to run when he felt
 
 The Gray Kitten 153 
 
 the wheel going. He is a fine little fellow and 
 it is due to his good behavior that the children 
 came to no worse mishap. I'll leave a quieting 
 draught for the child, Miss Hallett, and some- 
 thing for that head of yours." 
 
 " My head was better," said Miss Betty weakly. 
 
 " This won't come amiss," replied the doctor, 
 putting a few tablets into a small phial. " Get the 
 child to bed and go yourself. I'll come again in 
 the morning." 
 
 So while those in the yellow house were look- 
 ing after Adele, Jessie was being driven home 
 behind Ezra's old white horse and was delivered 
 safe, if not quite sound, into her mother's arms. 
 
 As it was getting late Mrs. Loomis was getting 
 anxious, and was about to send Max to the Hal- 
 letts' after his little sister. Ezra had not waited 
 for thanks, but as soon as he had set Jessie safely 
 down before her own door he drove off at as 
 rapid a pace as his old horse could travel. At 
 Jessie's sudden appearance looking as if she had 
 been through the wars her mother cried out : 
 " "Why, my child, what is the matter ? How did 
 you get such a scratched face ? and look at your 
 stocking torn to shreds."
 
 154 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Well, I vow ! " exclaimed "Walter, " you do 
 look a sight ! Been climbing trees, I bet." 
 
 "Indeed I've not," returned Jessie. "I can 
 climb trees, but I haven't done it to-day. I'll 
 tell you, mother, but I don't want to before 
 Walter." 
 
 " Oh, all right," said that person indifferentlj 7 , 
 " I don't want to know." 
 
 Jessie slipped her hand into her mother's. 
 " Come up-stairs," she said in a whisper, " and I'll 
 show you my leg." 
 
 " Your leg ? " Mrs. Loomis began to look 
 alarmed, and led Jessie up-stairs. "My dear 
 child," she said when they had entered Jessie's 
 little room, " what has happened ? " 
 
 " It wasn't my fault, indeed it wasn't," began 
 Jessie trying to be brave, but now that she was 
 in the safe harbor of her mother's arms, feeling 
 that she could not keep back the tears. " I tried 
 to make Adele stop, and not go out of sight, but 
 she just would and would go further and further. 
 She was bent and determined to go as far as she 
 could, and I was afraid to let her go off by her- 
 self, and yet I knew it wasn't right for us to be 
 driving out of sight. I truly didn't know what
 
 The Gray Kitten 155 
 
 to do, mother. She wouldn't let me drive nor get 
 out nor anything and she wouldn't go back, so all 
 I could do was to sit still. Then she drove bias 
 across the railroad track, and the wheel caught, 
 and we were tipped out. I fell down into some 
 bushes and got an awful bruise. Just see." She 
 displayed a large black and blue surface to her 
 mother. 
 
 " Why, you poor child, that certainly is a bruise. 
 I must bathe it after a while. But now go on 
 with your story." Mrs. Loornis's hands trembled 
 as she held Jessie closer. 
 
 " Then," continued the little girl, " when I 
 came to my senses I didn't see Adele at first, but 
 I saw Dapple Gray standing quite still by the 
 railroad track. A cart-wheel was off and the 
 cart was tipped down the bank. But wasn't 
 Dapple Gray good not to move ? " 
 
 " He was indeed, but oh, my little daughter, I 
 dare not think what might have happened. Sup- 
 pose a train had been coming along." 
 
 " One did whistle. It was a freight train, I 
 think, but it must have passed before we got 
 there. "Well, I picked myself up and found Adele 
 sitting there crying about her arm. She has
 
 156 Playmate Polly 
 
 broken it, mother, but we didn't know it then 
 and there wasn't any house nearer than Ezra's so 
 I went there." She hesitated for a moment be- 
 fore going on. " It was so much nearer not to 
 go across the foot-bridge, so I went the other 
 way." 
 
 " Oh, Jessie ! " Mrs. Loomis turned pale. 
 
 " Yes, I did. I knew that perhaps I ought not, 
 but it would save time, you see. I did get 
 awfully dizzy just in the middle, but I shut my 
 eyes and said, 
 
 " 'God shall charge His angel legions 
 Watch and ward o'er thee to keep,' 
 
 and presently I felt all right, so I got over safely 
 and found Ezra oh, dear, he hasn't had his sup- 
 per. Isn't that too bad ! and Kitty washed my 
 face and fixed me up while Ezra and Mark went 
 for Adele and took her to the doctor. Then they 
 stopped for me and we all took Adele home and 
 then Ezra brought me." 
 
 " My darling child, what a dreadful time you 
 have had," exclaimed Mrs. Loomis. 
 
 " I haven't told any one but you about Adele, 
 mother, truly I haven't. I never said to any one
 
 The Gray Kitten 157 
 
 that it was her fault. Could I help it happening ? 
 "What ought I to have done ? " 
 
 Mrs. Looinis was silent for a moment. " It was 
 a very hard position for a little girl, so hard that 
 I do not see how I can consent to your being 
 thrown with so wilful a child as Adele. I am 
 afraid for the consequences." 
 
 " Oh, mother ! " There were surprise and re- 
 gret in Jessie's tones. " Am I never to play with 
 her again, poor Adele ! And am I never to go to 
 the yellow house ? Not for lessons or anything ? 
 Oh, mother ! " 
 
 " I shall have to think it over, dear, and have 
 a talk with your father before we can decide. It 
 is a very serious matter for us to have our only 
 dear little girl placed in such danger as you were 
 in to-day. So far as you were concerned I really 
 do not see how you can be blamed, and you tried 
 to be brave and noble for Adele's sake, but we 
 must make it impossible for such a thing to hap- 
 pen again. Now, come down and have some 
 supper, and then I think you'd better go to bed, 
 for it has been a very exciting day for you. 
 There will be no lessons to-morrow and you'd bet- 
 ter not get up very early." She did not say that
 
 158 Playmate Polly 
 
 she still felt anxious lest Jessie had suffered more 
 from the accident than at once appeared. 
 
 The next morning Jessie woke up feeling stiff 
 and sore, and was glad when Max came up with 
 her breakfast. He had added some ripe persim- 
 mons to her bill />f fare and was so kind and so- 
 licitous that Jessie quite enjoyed the reputation of 
 invalid. Walter, too, poked his head in the door 
 and asked how she was feeling, blundering out a 
 half apology by saying, "Why didn't you tell a 
 fellow what was the matter when you came in ?" 
 Then he tossed a little pale pink rose on the bed 
 and ran away. The rose was the last of the sea- 
 son and he had found it braving the frost which 
 had sweetened the persimmons. Minerva, also, 
 came up with a plate of tiny hot biscuits which 
 she had baked especially for the little girl. 
 
 Later in the day Max was sent over to inquire 
 how Adele was, and brought back the report that 
 she was doing very well but had had a feverish 
 night. By the time Max had returned Jessie had 
 found bed rather a tiresome place and so had 
 begged to be allowed to get up and come down. 
 
 Her father looked her over, asked many ques- 
 tions and finally decided that the big bruise was
 
 The Gray Kitten 159 
 
 her worst hurt and that she could go out and in 
 as she pleased. " Run out of doors all you want 
 to," he said, " but don't get tired out," so Jessie 
 availed herself of this permission and concluded 
 to go hunt up the boys. 
 
 She found them in the barn amusing themselves 
 with Eb. He had learned to say, " Hallo ! " and 
 was walking back and forth on a beam, cocking 
 his eye and looking down at the boys below. 
 
 " He's a funny fellow," said Max as Jessie came 
 in. " I'd like to take him back to school. We're 
 going Monday. Carl is all right, they say." 
 
 " It certainly would make the children laugh and 
 
 play 
 To see a crow at school," 
 
 said Jessie laughing. 
 
 " Jessie had a little crow 
 
 As black as you can think. 
 It followed her to school one day 
 And drank up all the ink," 
 
 said Max. 
 
 " Ho, I can do better than that," boasted Wai- 
 fit*
 
 i6o Playmate Polly 
 
 " Jessie had a little crow 
 As black as any sloe 
 And everywhere that Jessie went 
 The crow was sure to go." 
 
 " What is a sloe ? " asked Jessie. 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know," said "Walter. " Ask 
 Max. He is the walking dictionary." 
 
 " It is a kind of plum, I believe," Max told 
 them. 
 
 " I never saw a plum as black as Ebon is," said 
 Jessie, stroking the shining feathers of the bird 
 who had flown down and was sitting on her wrist. 
 
 " And I suppose you never saw a green rose, 
 but I have," returned Max. 
 
 " Where did you see it ? " Jessie asked. 
 
 " In a greenhouse, Mr. Atkinson's." 
 
 " Well, I suppose plums could be black," said 
 Jessie persuaded that Max knew what he was 
 talking about. 
 
 " Look at Eb pecking at your buttons, Jess," 
 said Walter. " He has one almost off." 
 
 Jessie wore a red jacket whose bright buttons 
 pleased Ebon's fancy. "He is getting to be a 
 great mischief," she said. " He tried to carry off 
 mother's thimble yesterday. Go 'long, Eb. Go
 
 The Gray Kitten 161 
 
 pretend you are a chicken or something. Max, 
 will you go with me to Effie Hinsdale's to get my 
 kitten ? It is big enough now, and if I am not to 
 go to Adele's any more I shall need the kitten." 
 
 " Let's go with her," proposed Walter. " Then 
 we can see Jack and some of the other boys. 
 We'll go, Jess." 
 
 Walter was very amiable to-day, Jessie thought. 
 He really loved his little sister, and the fact that 
 she had been in great danger the day before 
 made him realize what it would be to lose her. 
 
 " We might get both kittens," said Jessie, 
 " and then we could leave Adele's for her on our 
 way home. She will be so glad to have it now 
 that she has a broken arm and no one to play with." 
 
 "Do you suppose her father will sell Dapple 
 Gray ? " said Walter. " I wish our father could 
 buy him." 
 
 " Adele would feel awfully to have him sold," 
 said Jessie. " Oh, dear ! " she drew a long sigh. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " asked Max anxiousl} 7 . 
 
 " Nothing much. I was only thinking what a 
 pity it is that things can't alwa} r s go right." 
 
 " I don't see what possessed you two to go off 
 that way," said Walter reading her thoughts.
 
 162 Playmate Polly 
 
 " I don't either," returned Jessie turning away. 
 "I'm going up to the house now to get a basket 
 for the kittens." 
 
 " I don't believe she had a thing to do with it," 
 said Max to his brother when Jessie was out of 
 hearing. "I'll bet it was the Hallett girl that 
 wanted to have her way, and Jess won't tell on 
 her." 
 
 " That's pretty decent of Jess then," said Wal- 
 ter, " and it was pretty fine of that pony not to 
 bolt when the wheel came off. I'll tell you a 
 pony like that is worth having. Ezra said he 
 stood as still as a post till they led him away." 
 
 " I reckon Mr. Hallett won't want to give him 
 up," returned Max. 
 
 " But he'll not let those two kids go driving 
 off by themselves again," remarked "Walter with 
 the superiority of his years, which were but two 
 more than Jessie's. 
 
 Jessie with her two brothers made the visit to 
 the Hinsdales, and Jessie bore away the gray 
 kitten in triumph, but her pleasure was marred 
 by finding that the black kitten had been given 
 to a cousin of the cook's, so there was none for 
 Adele.
 
 The Gray Kitten 163 
 
 " I am so sorry," said Effie, " but Adele shall 
 have first choice of the next batch." 
 
 " She'll be dreadfully disappointed," said Jes- 
 sie sadly. 
 
 " I am so sorry," repeated Effie, " and if there 
 were one left she should have it, but we never take 
 the last one from Tippy, you see ; that wouldn't 
 be right, and yours is the last one left to give." 
 
 Jessie hugged her own furry darling to her, 
 and, the boys having called out that they 
 couldn't wait any longer, she was obliged to join 
 them, but all the way home she was struggling 
 with a problem. Ought she to give up the gray 
 kitten to Adele ? Poor Adele had no brothers 
 and no mother, and, if Jessie must give her up, 
 she would have no playmate. Although Adele 
 had been the means of getting them both into 
 serious trouble, Jessie felt the sorrier for her 
 on account of her very naughtiness, and some- 
 how could only think of her friend as she was in 
 her most charming moods. When she chose, 
 Adele could be the most fascinating of compan- 
 ions, and Jessie believed that her love was very 
 genuine, so the more she thought of it the more 
 she felt that she ought to give up the kitten.
 
 164 Playmate Polly 
 
 However, she decided not to make up her mind 
 right away, and in the meantime she need not 
 let Adele know that the gray kitten had been 
 taken away from Effie's. But while she was 
 weighing the matter in her own mind came a 
 note from Adele that settled the question. It 
 arrived the next morning, and was the outcome 
 of a visit from Effie who had literally let the 
 cat out of the bag when she went to see how 
 Adele was. The note ran thus : 
 
 " You don't love me, for you haven't been to 
 see me and I suppose you think I am too bad to 
 play with. You can go to your old Polly and 
 stay with her all the time. I shall not trubble 
 you, but I want my Peter Pan and I know Polly 
 has stoled him to spite me. Efy says you have 
 your kiten. What made you take it when there 
 wassent any for me ? Oh, I am verry miserble 
 with nobuddy to play with. If Polly dossent 
 send back my Peter Pan I am going to burn her 
 up. Her scraggy hair would make a luvly blaze. 
 "Your forsakened frend, 
 
 "ADELE." 
 
 At the end was a tear-stained postscript which 
 read : " I did love you. I did, I did." 
 Evidently Adele was in one of her worst
 
 The Gray Kitten 165 
 
 moods and was feeling very remorseful and un- 
 happy. This Jessie knew, but at the same time 
 she was indignant that Adele should still harp 
 upon Polly's wickedness. Of course it was very 
 absurd for her to say such things, for how could 
 Polly steal anything ? Yet the note quite de- 
 cided Jessie not to give up the gray kitten, and 
 fcer pity for Adele suffered a change.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 Across Water
 
 CHAPTER X 
 Across Water 
 
 IT was some time before the two little girls 
 met, for Mrs. Loomis could not make up her mind 
 to allow Jessie to go over to the yellow house, 
 while Miss Betty and Miss Eloise appreciated the 
 fact that there was reason for hard feelings 
 against Adele, and moreover thought that noth- 
 ing would make the little sinner realize her mis- 
 doing more than such a punishment as a separa- 
 tion from Jessie. Mrs. Loomis had not failed to 
 get daily reports of Adele's progress and sent 
 her over many dainties while she was in bed, so 
 that Adele's remorse was all the greater. 
 
 Jessie answered the note by saying she was 
 very sorry about the kitten, but she did not refer 
 to Peter Pan nor to Playmate Polly. For a 
 whole week she was obliged to spend her time 
 with her old companions, for the boys returned 
 to school as expected, so Eb and the gray kitten 
 were a great source of solace. Eb took a. great
 
 170 Playmate Polly 
 
 fancy to Cloudy, and it was very funny to see 
 him, with outspread wings, hopping after the 
 prancing kitten who was in no way afraid of him, 
 and who would give him little impertinent dabs 
 when he came too near. He infinitely preferred 
 Cloudy to the chickens. 
 
 Finally when a week had gone by, and Jessie, 
 who had avoided the brook for some days, was 
 again playing with Peter Pan and Playmate 
 Polly, she looked across the little stream to see a 
 wistful pair of dark eyes gazing at her. " Oh, 
 Adele ! " she cried, " are you able to come out 
 again ? " 
 
 A flashing smile changed the expression of 
 Adele's face. " I was so afraid you wouldn't 
 speak to me," she exclaimed. "I can't come 
 over, for I am trying awfully hard to be good. 
 Can't you come to this side ? " 
 
 " I'm afraid not," replied Jessie slowly, " but 
 perhaps if each stays on her own side we can 
 have some sort of play and won't be disobedient 
 either." 
 
 "I think that will be lovely," cried Adele. 
 " What can we play ? I can use only my right 
 arm, you know."
 
 Across Water 171 
 
 "Will it be a long time before you can use the 
 other ? " asked Jessie interestedly. 
 
 " Not so very, very long. The doctor says it is 
 doing very well indeed, but oh, Jessie, it has been 
 awful without you." 
 
 " Are you having lessons ? " 
 
 " No, not yet. Aunt Betty hasn't said any- 
 thing about that, and and," the tears canie to 
 her eyes, " if you are not there I shall hate les- 
 sons worse than ever. I was getting so I didn't 
 mind them." 
 
 " It is too bad," returned Jessie. 
 
 " I suppose your mother thinks I am too wicked 
 for you to play with," remarked Adele after an 
 awkward pause. 
 
 " Well, not exactly," Jessie wondered how 
 she could explain, " but you see she is afraid we'll 
 get into some mischief." 
 
 " I know, I know," returned Adele. " I sup- 
 pose I am very wicked, but I shall never want to 
 be good if we can't be friends." 
 
 Jessie pondered for a moment over this speech. 
 It made her feel a great responsibility. She 
 wondered if her mother knew that Adele was in 
 danger of becoming very, very wicked, if it would
 
 172 Playmate Polly 
 
 make any difference in her decision about their 
 friendship. Certainly it was a subject that 
 needed to be discussed, and it should be done 
 that very night when Jessie and her mother had 
 their last little talk before Mrs. Loomis kissed her 
 daughter good-night. For the present it would 
 be best not to talk about it, and so she said, " I'll 
 tell you what we can do ; we can send boats back 
 and forth to each other. You can stay on one 
 end of the log and I will stay on the other." 
 
 " If I come to the middle, will you come and 
 kiss me ? " asked Adele. 
 
 Jessie thought there could be, no harm in doing 
 that upon strictly neutral ground. " But we 
 mustn't stay there," she concluded. 
 
 " Oh, no, we won't stay there," agreed Jessie. 
 So they proceeded to the middle of the log that 
 spanned the brook, fervently kissed one another, 
 and then retreated each to her own side. 
 
 " I'll get some chips," said Jessie, " and throw 
 some over to you. "We ought to have some 
 string, too. Oh, I know where there is some ; in 
 the grotto I had a little ball of it the other day, 
 and I put it there to keep it safe." 
 
 " Is the grotto just the same ? " asked Adele
 
 Across Water 173 
 
 wistfulty. " I should so love to see it. I wish I 
 could come over just for a minute. Do you 
 think I might ? " 
 
 Jessie shook her head decidedly. " No, I don't 
 think you ought. Of course I'd love to have 
 you, but it would be disobeying ; even doing it 
 once would be disobeying." 
 
 "It is very hard to be perfectly good," re- 
 turned Adele woefully. 
 
 " Yes, it is," sighed Jessie, " but when we are 
 sure a thing is wrong we ought not to do it. 
 Sometimes you aren't quite sure, and sometimes 
 you forget. Forgetting is my worst sin," she 
 added solemnly. 
 
 " I don't know what mine is, my very worst, I 
 mean. When I begin to think about them I am 
 afraid to go to bed at night." 
 
 " Oh ! Mother always " began Jessie and 
 
 then she remembered that there was no mother 
 to whom Adele could unburden her conscience 
 and from whom she could receive loving advice 
 and comfort. She therefore changed the subject 
 quickly. " I am going to get the string and the 
 chips," she said, " and I will send you over a load 
 of persimmons. Do you like them ? I brought
 
 174 Playmate Polly 
 
 some with me this morning. They are so 
 good now that we have had frost. I don't 
 suppose I can send more than one or two at a 
 time." 
 
 Adele was delighted at the prospect of receiv- 
 ing such a valuable cargo which by dint of a 
 long switch Jessie managed to pilot safely over 
 to a spot where Adele could reach it. The second 
 expedition was not so successful, however, but 
 was lost in the raging torrent before it was half- 
 way across. When a vessel is only six inches 
 long it is very hard to navigate among the whirl- 
 pools of an uncertain stream. Nevertheless at 
 least half a dozen persimmons reached the other 
 shore and were duly consumed by the person to 
 whom they were consigned. 
 
 " There will be chestnuts pretty soon," said 
 Jessie. " I shouldn't wonder if there were some 
 now. We might go and get some. Oh, I forgot 
 they are on this side. Never mind, I will get 
 Sam to gather some and to-morrow I can send 
 you over a lot. I can put them in a basket and 
 tie the basket on a long pole and in that way I 
 can reach them over to you. Oh, I wonder if 
 the boys took all those they gathered. I am go-
 
 Across Water 175 
 
 ing to the barn to see, and if they didn't I'll 
 bring all I can. Just wait a minute." 
 
 She ran off to the barn and pretty soon came 
 back. She stopped on the way to put something 
 in the grotto, and then went on to the brook 
 with a small covered basket. " I'd better tie it 
 on this pole," she said, " for it might fall off. It is 
 full of chestnuts. When you have emptied them 
 send the basket back to me, and I will put some- 
 thing else in it." 
 
 " What will you put in it ? " asked Adele watch- 
 ing Jessie tie the basket securely to the pole. 
 
 " That is a secret," said Jessie laughing. 
 
 By going upon the log she was able to reach 
 far enough so that Adele could get the basket 
 which was unfastened and sent back after it had 
 been emptied of its contents. " I think you were 
 lovely to send me all these," said Adele de- 
 lightedly. 
 
 " Oh, we shall have plenty more," Jessie told 
 her. "Sam says there are lots down in the big 
 field. You shall have some of those, too. Now 
 be very careful when you untie the basket this 
 time. It isn't for you to keep always, but only 
 for a little while."
 
 176 Playmate Polly 
 
 While Adele was puzzling over this, Jessie 
 went off to the grotto from which she abstracted 
 something. She kept her back to Adele, and 
 was some time in getting the basket settled to 
 suit her. " I am just crazy to see what it is," said 
 Adele excitedly. 
 
 Jessie laughed and this time went further out 
 upon the log carrying the pole very carefully and 
 reaching it out to where Adele stood at the other 
 end of the log. " Go a little further away when 
 you open the basket," she suggested, and Adele, 
 wondering, obeyed. 
 
 She opened the lid of the basket and peeped in. 
 " Oh ! " she cried, " how lovely ! " 
 
 "He has only come for a visit," said Jessie 
 hurriedly. " His name is Cloudy, you know. I 
 thought you might like to see him." 
 
 " Isn't he a darling ? " said Adele snuggling the 
 kitten up against her face. 
 
 Jessie watched her with a serious countenance. 
 Presently she said rather breathlessly, ""Would 
 you like to call him half yours ? I don't believe 
 I could give him to you altogether, but we might 
 go shares, you know." 
 
 Adele sat down with the kitten in her lap.
 
 Across Water 177 
 
 " Jessie Loorais, I think you are the dearest girl 
 that ever lived," she said earnestly, " and I should 
 love to corae over there and hug you, but I won't, 
 because I must be good. No, I won't let you 
 give me even half the kitten, but I do love to 
 have him come over for a visit. See, he is sleepy. 
 Shall I put him back in the basket and let him 
 have a nap ? " 
 
 "He has just had a big saucer of milk," said 
 Jessie, " but he is very playful most of the time. 
 You might let him have a little nap, and I will 
 find something else to send over to you." 
 
 "No, let me send something this time; you 
 have done it all," said Adele. " I'll go up to the 
 house in a minute and get something. Would 
 you mind if I took Cloudy to show to Aunt Betty 
 and Miss Eloise ? I won't let anything happen to 
 him and I'll bring him right back." 
 
 " Of course you may take him," Jessie con- 
 sented generously. And carrying the basket 
 steadily, Adele sped away. 
 
 She was not gone very long and when she 
 oame back she brought a small paper bag of cakes 
 and another of candies which were promptly des- 
 patched across the watery way to Jessie; but
 
 178 Playmate Polly 
 
 as Cloudy was asleep in the basket the little bags 
 themselves were tied on the pole and were trans- 
 ported in that way. 
 
 "Aunt Betty said Cloudy was lovely," said 
 Adele, " and he behaved beautifully. I told her 
 how generous you offered to be, and she sent her 
 love to you." 
 
 " What did Miss Eloise say ? " 
 
 " She wasn't there. Aunt Betty said she had 
 gone somewhere, but she didn't say where. I 
 asked Aunt Betty if she thought papa would 
 bring me a kitten from the city, and she said he 
 was going to bring me a big dog in place of 
 Dapple Gray. I'd love a big dog." 
 
 " But where is Dapple Gray ? " asked Jessie. 
 
 " He's been sent away," said Adele in a low 
 voice. "Papa said as long as I couldn't be 
 trusted that I couldn't have him to drive till I 
 was old enough to have common sense, and so he 
 has sent him to my cousin till my sense grows 
 enough for me to have him again. Do you sup- 
 pose common sense does grow ? " 
 
 "I think it must," returned Jessie thought- 
 fully, " for all grown people have it." 
 
 " I don't believe they do," said Adele, " for I
 
 Across Water 179 
 
 have heard papa say ever so many times that So- 
 and-So had not a grain of common sense, and So- 
 and-So would be a big man, too." 
 
 ""Well, may be they get it and then lose it," 
 replied Jessie, " like some persons do their hair. 
 Some persons have a great deal, and others are 
 quite bald, you know, like Dr. Sadtler." 
 
 This seemed a reasonable conclusion and Adele 
 accepted it. " Well," she said, " I hope if I ever 
 do get my common sense that it will be nice and 
 thick and long like Miss Eloise's hair." 
 
 " Is your cousin a little girl ? " asked Jessie re- 
 turning to her thoughts of Dapple Gray. 
 
 " No, he is a little boy, and he has been very 
 ill, so papa said it would be a great comfort to 
 him to have a little pony like that." 
 
 " Is he a big boy ? " asked Jessie. 
 
 "About as big as your brother Max." 
 
 " He will hate to give Dapple Gray up ? " said 
 Jessie. 
 
 " Maybe he will be strong and well again by 
 the time my common sense gets here," said 
 Adele. " I hope that won't be so very long." 
 
 " I hope so, too," replied Jessie, thinking more 
 of Dapple Gray than of Adele's development.
 
 180 Playmate Potty 
 
 "Cloudy is waking up," said Adele. "Pd 
 better send him back to you." 
 
 " Tie the basket on very strongly," said Jessie, 
 " so it can't fall in the water." 
 
 But though Adele tied the basket securely 
 enough, she was not quite so certain of her own 
 footing, her useless arm causing her to lose her 
 balance, and in regaining it she allowed the pole 
 to drop so far that the basket was dipped into the 
 water, though fortunately not so far that Cloudy 
 received more wetting than gave him two drip- 
 ping paws. 
 
 " Oh, dear, I am so relieved," said A.dele. " I 
 thought he was drowned. "Why am I always 
 doing such dreadful things ? " 
 
 "You couldn't help it," Jessie assured her. 
 " You have only one arm, you see, and it was 
 very hard to manage that long pole." She dried 
 Cloudy's paws on her handkerchief and then cud- 
 dled him under her jacket. " I think I shall have 
 to carry him up to the house," she said, " for he 
 might take cold. Besides, I am sure it must be 
 nearly dinner time." 
 
 "We have had a perfectly lovely time," re- 
 turned Adele. "I was so miserable last night
 
 Across Water 181 
 
 when I went to bed, and I cried myself to 
 sleep." 
 
 " What made you so miserable ? " 
 
 " Why, you see Dapple Gray went away yes- 
 terday afternoon, and I felt so lonely when I 
 thought I couldn't have you or him either. I am 
 so glad you came down to the brook this morn- 
 ing. Will you come again this afternoon ? " 
 
 " If mother says I may." 
 
 " Are you going to tell her ? " 
 
 " Tell her what ? " 
 
 " That you have been playing with me all the 
 morning." 
 
 "Of course I shall tell her. I tell her every- 
 thing, and you know we have minded exactly, 
 for neither one of us has crossed the brook. 
 Mother never said I couldn't talk to you ; she 
 only said I was not to go over to your place." 
 
 " And Aunt Betty said I mustn't go to your 
 place, so we really have minded them, haven't 
 we ? " 
 
 "I should think we had," replied Jessie. 
 " Good-bye." 
 
 " Good-bye," responded Adele. And both lit- 
 tle girls went off feeling very virtuous.
 
 182 Playmate Polly 
 
 Jessie did not delay in telling her mother all 
 about the morning's meeting. "Do you mind, 
 mother ? " she asked. 
 
 " No," answered her mother. " I don't think 
 I do in the least. I see that you both meant to 
 be obedient, and I think the hard lesson Adele 
 has had promises to do her a great deal of good." 
 
 "I feel so sorry for her, oh, so sorry," said 
 Jessie thoughtfully. " She cried herself to sleep 
 last night because she was so lonely. If she had 
 had you, mother, to tuck her up and kiss her 
 good-night and to make her feel comfortable in- 
 side, as you do me after I have been naughty, she 
 wouldn't have felt so." 
 
 " Poor little child," said Mrs. Loomis compas- 
 sionately. 
 
 " I think she loves me very much," said Jessie, 
 "and she did just as I told her was right this 
 morning. She never said one word about Polly 
 or Peter Pan, either. Don't you think I can be 
 friends with her again, mother ? " 
 
 " I think you can, for I am sure that you 
 can do a great deal for her. It is evident that 
 she has never been used to giving her confidences 
 to her aunt, and so far, Miss Eloise has not been
 
 Across Water 183 
 
 able to win them. I think Miss Eloise will in 
 time, and meanwhile we must do all we can. 
 Miss Eloise was here this morning, dearie." 
 
 " Was she ? Then that is why she was not at 
 home when Adele took Cloudy up to show her. 
 What did she say, mother ? " 
 
 " She said a great many things, and some things 
 she said made me decide to let you begin your les- 
 sons again, but I would rather you did not spend 
 too much time at the yellow house. If you go 
 there in the morning, that will be enough, and in 
 the afternoon it will be better for Adele to come 
 here to play with you. I think it is getting too 
 cold to play by the brook, but there is the attic 
 where you can be perfectly safe. I will have 
 one end cleared for you, and you can have all 
 your playthings up there." Jessie threw her 
 arms around her mother's neck. " You are just 
 the dearest mother in the world," she cried. " I 
 wish Adele had one exactly like you. May I just 
 go down to the brook a few minutes this after- 
 noon and tell her, and may I bring her back with 
 me?" 
 
 Mrs. Loomis smiled down at the eager face as 
 she gave her consent.
 
 184 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Just one thing more," said Jessie. " Do you 
 mind if I stay long enough to shut up Peter 
 Pan's house for the winter ? It won't take long." 
 
 " No, Miss Wendy, I don't mind, if you will 
 promise to mind the tree tops." 
 
 Jessie laughed, and felt very thankful that she 
 had such a mother.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 Who Took the Spoons)
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 Who Took the Spoons? 
 
 LESSONS began again the next day, and this 
 time continued without interruption until the 
 holidays. It would not be quite true to say that 
 there were never any more tantrums, but it is a 
 fact that they were less violent, and occurred less 
 frequently. Adele really was trying to improve, 
 and if Jessie herself once in a while had what 
 Adele called " the pouts " and always mocked 
 and made fun of her, Jessie was ashamed to 
 continue them for very long, for she hated to be 
 made fun of. The two had their little quarrels, 
 to be sure, and sometimes did not speak for as 
 much as a whole day, but night usually brought 
 regret and the next morning each would be eager 
 to make up. 
 
 One day Jessie coming home from school found 
 her mother counting the silver. " Jessie," she 
 said, "do you remember taking any of these 
 small teaspoons at any time ? " 
 
 " Why no, mother," returned Jessie. " I al-
 
 i88 Playmate Polly 
 
 ways have a kitchen spoon, you know, and I 
 haven't had one of those for a long time, not 
 since that day I had the marmalade down by the 
 brook." 
 
 " I don't see where they can have gone," said 
 Mrs. Loomis. " There are two missing, and I 
 am sure they were all here last week. Minerva 
 is very careful and I don't think she could pos- 
 sibly have thrown them out. You are quite sure 
 that you and Adele have not had them up in the 
 attic ? " 
 
 " I am quite sure," returned Jessie, " but I will 
 go and look." 
 
 " I wish you would," said her mother. 
 
 Jessie trudged up to the attic and searched 
 among the playthings, but there were no spoons 
 to be seen. She went back to her mother. 
 " They are not there," she said. " Adele and I 
 haven't had anything but dolls' parties up there, 
 and then we used the spoons that belong to the 
 play tea-set." 
 
 "I cannot think where they can be," re- 
 peated Mrs. Loomis. 
 
 " Perhaps the boys had them down at the barn 
 or somewhere," suggested Jessie.
 
 Who Took the Spoons ? 189 
 
 "But I have counted them since they went 
 back to school, and they were all here. I have 
 looked everywhere I can think of, and so has 
 Minerva. They are never taken to the kitchen 
 except to be washed, and the only person who 
 has been along is that old peddler who comes 
 with tins sometimes. I have always thought 
 him an honest old soul, as peddlers go, but I can 
 think of no one else." 
 
 " I don't believe it was the peddler," said Jes- 
 sie. " He has been coming here for a long time, 
 and he is always very nice and kind. He gave 
 me a ring with a blue set in it one day because 
 he said he liked little girls, and that he once had 
 a little daughter about my age who died. I am 
 sure it couldn't be the peddler." 
 
 " It doesn't seem to me so either," returned 
 Mrs. Loornis, " but where are the spoons ? " 
 
 Jessie shook her head, and the loss remained a 
 mystery, for no amount of searching brought 
 them to light. It even became more and more 
 mystifying, for in a few da} r s a little coffee- 
 spoon was missing. It was a souvenir spoon 
 which had been sent to Mrs. Loomis by her 
 sister, and had been left on Mrs. Loomis's
 
 190 Playmate Polly 
 
 dressing bureau after the box containing it was 
 opened. 
 
 " This is more and more perplexing," said Mrs. 
 Loomis, " for I know positively that I left it in 
 my room, and who in the world could go up 
 there without my knowledge ? " 
 
 This was the last spoon taken, and although 
 the matter was not forgotten it was after a while 
 dropped, all concluding that in some unexplained 
 way the spoons had fallen behind the surbase or 
 through a crack in the floor. This might ex- 
 plain the disappearance of the teaspoons, for 
 there was a large crack in the kitchen floor near 
 the fireplace, but it could not account for the 
 coffee-spoon. "I'll have that board in the 
 kitchen taken up in the spring," said Mr. Loomis. 
 " We don't want to take the stove down now, 
 and no doubt you will find the other in your 
 room somewhere when the spring cleaning is 
 done." So the matter rested. 
 
 When Jessie told Adele about the loss she de- 
 clared that Playmate Polly had taken them. It 
 was her way to charge Playmate Polly with all 
 sorts of evil traits, and the two little girls quar- 
 reled upon this subject oftener than any other,
 
 Who Took the Spoons? 191 
 
 absurd as it was. If Adele wanted to tease 
 Jessie she had but to say something disagree- 
 able about Playmate Polly, and Jessie's anger 
 would rise, so that it finally became as a red rag 
 to a bull, and the more Adele teased the more Jes- 
 sie resented it. 
 
 They seldom played by the brook now, but the 
 attic was a great source of pleasure. It \vas well 
 heated by a register, so there was no danger that 
 the children should take cold A set of shelves 
 on one side made a fine playhouse, and Sam had 
 made a low table of just the proper height. It 
 was a rough sort of affair, but served its purpose. 
 The legs of two old chairs were sawed down to 
 suit the children and a bit of old carpet was 
 spread upon the floor, so they considered that the 
 playroom was finely furnished. Minerva put up 
 a little white curtain at the window, and would 
 always remember them on baking days with a 
 little pie, a pan of tiny rolls, or some small cakes, 
 so that Saturday was feast day as well as holiday. 
 
 One Saturday the two children were sitting at 
 the table coloring some pictures in a couple of 
 old magazines. Mr. Hallett had brought them 
 each a small paint box the night before and they
 
 192 Playmate Polly 
 
 took this first opportunity of trying their powers. 
 Cloudy, attired in the long white frock belonging 
 to Jessie's baby doll, was asleep in an improvised 
 crib made of a small stool turned upside down. 
 He seemed perfectly satisfied and was having a 
 good nap. Charity sat by his side in the charac- 
 ter of nurse, and Peter Pan was sitting in a swing 
 which hung from the rafters. 
 
 " I think I shall put a red frock on my lady," 
 Adele said. 
 
 " I tried red," said Jessie, " but it doesn't go 
 very well. It is kind of thick and messy looking. 
 I believe I will try this yellow." They worked 
 away for a few moments, very much absorbed in 
 their painting, but they were interrupted by a 
 faint mew from the crib. " The baby is waking 
 up," said Jessie, " and he can't walk about very 
 well in that long frock. I shall have to take it 
 off, I suppose, so he can run about." 
 
 " But he does look so cunning in it," said Adele 
 admiringly. 
 
 " I know he does, and I can put it on again 
 after a while, but mother says I have no right to 
 make him uncomfortable, and to keep him from 
 playing when he wants to, so it will have to come
 
 Who Took the Spoons? 193 
 
 off, and when he gets sleepy I can put it on again. 
 Oh, what's that ? " 
 
 Adele ran to the window and drew aside the 
 curtain. " Why, it's Eb," she exclaimed. " He 
 is pecking at the window. He wants to come in. 
 Shall I open the window, Jessie ?" 
 
 " Why, yes. It won't do any harm to let him 
 stay with us. I wonder how he found his way. 
 You might leave the window open, Adele. It is 
 real warm to-day and then he can go out when 
 he wants to." 
 
 " I see how he came," said Adele looking out 
 the window. 
 
 " He couldn't fly as high as this with his wings 
 clipped." 
 
 " No, but he could fly as high as the smoke- 
 house door. It is open, you see, and then he 
 could fly on the roof, and from there to the 
 branch of that big tree. He could walk along 
 the branch, you see, and get up here." 
 
 " So he could, quite easily, and I suppose that 
 is the way he came. It is the first time he has 
 found us. See how pleased he is," for Eb was 
 walking about in the most insinuating manner, 
 dipping and curtseying and making enticing lit-
 
 194 Playmate Polly 
 
 tie sounds. " Don't let him. drink the paint water, 
 Adele ; it might make him ill. No, Eb, you can't 
 have that," for Eb, attracted by the bright colors 
 in the box, was trying to peck at them. Jessie 
 shut her box, and Adele did likewise. Then Eb 
 spied the kitten and sidled up to him. The girls 
 watched the two in their funny antics until 
 they heard Minerva calling at the foot cf the 
 stairs. 
 
 Jessie ran down to her, and presently came 
 back with a little apple pie which she set on the 
 table. "Doesn't it look good?" she said. 
 "Shall we eat it now?" 
 
 " "We might as well," returned Adele. 
 
 " I brought up some milk for the kitten," said 
 Jessie, " so he can sit on one side the table and 
 Eb on the other. I have a stale crust up here 
 that I will soak in the milk and give to Eb. He 
 will like that." So the funny company sat down 
 together, the kitten perched on a high box with 
 a small saucer of milk before him, Eb with his 
 soaked crust on a piece of pasteboard, and the 
 two girls, each with half a pie. Eb was the first 
 to finish his meal and then he flew down to see 
 what other entertainment the place afforded. He
 
 Who Stole the Spoons? 195 
 
 went prying around for a few minutes before he 
 spied A dele's paint brush which she had neglected 
 to put away. The piece of bright metal at one 
 end attracted him and in a moment he was upon 
 the window sill with the brush in his beak. Jes- 
 sie spied him just as he was about to take flight, 
 
 " Oh, see what Eb has ! " she cried. " Shut 
 the window quick ! " 
 
 Adele, who was nearest, jumped up, but Eb 
 was too quick for her and was beyond reach be- 
 fore she could get to him. " He's gone," she 
 cried. " He has gone off with my brush. How 
 shall we get it ? " 
 
 " You stay here and watch him," said Jessie, 
 "and I will go down and see if I can grab him be- 
 fore he gets away with it." 
 
 She ran down-stairs while Adele watched from 
 the window. Still carrying the brush, Eb 
 walked across the roof to the limb of the tree 
 which overhung one side of the house. He took 
 a short flight to the limb, walked along it, flew 
 to the smokehouse and stood there. The door, 
 however, was shut by now, and he \vas not sure 
 that he could venture to fly down from the roof. 
 Now was Jessie's time. She ran to the kitchen.
 
 196 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Give me some dough or corn bread, or some- 
 thing, quick, Minerva," she said. 
 
 Minerva picked up a piece of corn bread from 
 a plate and gave it to her. " What in the world 
 is the matter with the child ? " she said as Jessie 
 scurried out. She followed the little girl to 
 where she stood crumbling the corn bread into 
 one palm. " "Well, I declare," she said. " What 
 has he got now ? " 
 
 " Adele's paint brush," Jessie told her. " Come, 
 Eb. Come get some nice supper." 
 
 Eb cocked his head to one side, and regarded 
 the outstretched hand for a moment, then he 
 dropped the paint brush and flew down to Jessie's 
 shoulder. The paint brush rolled down from the 
 roof to the ground. Scattering the crumbs be- 
 fore him, Jessie set Eb down, and ran back, 
 stopping under the window from which Adele 
 was looking and calling up to her, " Here it is. 
 I made him drop it." 
 
 " I'll come down and get it," replied Adele. 
 
 " Bring Cloudy with you," Jessie called back. 
 
 In a few minutes Adele appeared with Cloudy 
 in her arms. " I shut the window," she said. " It 
 is getting dark up there, and I suppose I shall
 
 Whc Stole the Spoons? 197 
 
 have Angeline coming for me in a few minutes. 
 I am glad you were able to make Eb give up the 
 brush. What do you suppose he was going to do 
 with it ? Isn't he getting to be a thief ? " 
 
 " He certainly is," said Jessie. " I suppose he 
 was going to hide it somewhere." 
 
 " I wonder where ? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know. Where do you sup- 
 pose he would hide things, Minerva ? " 
 
 " Bless me, I'm sure I can't tell. Well, there, 
 I shouldn't be the least surprised if he was the 
 one that stole those spoons. It is a wonder none 
 of us thought of that. It's only lately he's taken 
 to carrying off things, though. He tried to get 
 my thimble off my finger yesterday." 
 
 " I'm going right in to tell mother about him," 
 said Jessie, " and maybe we can find the spoons 
 if he has hidden them." 
 
 Minerva followed the two children into tfae 
 sitting-room, where Mrs. Loomis was told of the 
 suspicion which rested upon Eb. "Well, I de- 
 clare," she said. " I verily believe he is the 
 thief. We must watch him, and see where he 
 goes. Keep your eyes open, children, and perhaps 
 we can trace him."
 
 198 Playmate Polly 
 
 However, Eb was much too sly to be dis- 
 covered at once, and despite all their efforts they 
 could not find out where he made a hiding-place 
 for his treasures. He was even given the chance 
 to carry away certain articles, but as soon as he 
 saw that he was followed he would drop what he 
 carried and would fly off with a caw of derision. 
 " He is the cleverest creature I ever saw," de- 
 clared Minerva. " There is no catching him nap- 
 ping. I let him carry off a piece of my red 
 worsted this morning, and would you believe it, he 
 dropped it on the step as soon as I opened the door." 
 
 " We'll catch him unawares some time," said 
 Sam. 
 
 But as if he knew himself suspected, Eb con- 
 tinued to behave with such secrecy that no one 
 could say that he was really the thief, and finally 
 Jessie declared that she didn't believe he was 
 guilty at all, and she told Adele so. 
 
 " No, I don't believe it is he," Adele answered 
 with a gleam of mischief in her eye. " I have al- 
 ways believed it is Polly. I saw Eb sitting on 
 her head whispering things in her ear one day, 
 when I was coming to your house, so maybe he 
 puts her up to it."
 
 Who Stole the Spoons? 199 
 
 " You are so silly, Adele," returned Jessie im- 
 patiently, and turning away. 
 
 Adele ran after. " Don't get mad, Jessie. 
 Please don't. I was only fooling, but it is such 
 fun to pretend things about Polty. If you won't 
 get mad, I will tell you a secret ; a very great 
 secret. Say you aren't mad." 
 
 " I'm not so very mad," Jessie answered, the 
 prospect of a secret being more than she could 
 withstand. 
 
 The children were in the attic snuggled near 
 the heater, for it had suddenly grown quite cold. 
 " Guess who the secret is about," said Adele. 
 
 " About us ? " 
 
 " You and me, do you mean ? "Well, partly." 
 
 " Is Dapple Gray coming home ? " 
 
 Adele looked grave. " No, not yet, though 
 papa said the other day that he was very sure I 
 could have him some time, if I kept on improving 
 I'll tell you who the secret is about and then you 
 can guess some more. It is about Miss Eloise." 
 
 " Is she going away ? " asked Jessie in alarm, 
 for she had become very fond of her teacher. 
 
 Adele shook her head. " No, at least she if/ 
 and she isn't."
 
 200 Playmate Polly 
 
 " I don't see how that could be." 
 
 " Don't you ? I do. She might be going away 
 from our house but not from the neighborhood." 
 
 " Why should she do that ? Oh, do tell me, 
 Adele. I can't possibly guess." 
 
 " Well," agreed Adele, " it is this way. Miss 
 Eloise is engaged to be married to a professor or 
 teacher or something. He has been here to see 
 her, and, what do you think ? If they can find 
 a house big enough near here they are going to 
 take it and have a school next year, and I shall 
 go to it. Papa is so pleased, because he says he 
 will never have to send me away to school then." 
 
 " Shall you like going to a man ? " asked Jessie 
 somewhat disturbed. 
 
 " Oh, the teachers won't all be men," said 
 Adele, " and I like Mr. Davis very much. So will 
 you, for of course you will go, won't you ? " 
 
 " I don't know. Where will the school be ? " 
 
 " They can't tell till they see what house they 
 can get." 
 
 Jessie was thoughtful for a moment, then 
 presently she cried, " I know. I know just the 
 place. It isn't very far from here. We can see 
 it from the window, now that the trees are bare.
 
 Who Stole the Spoons? 201 
 
 It is a great big white house with ever so many 
 rooms in it. Father knows all about it. It is 
 this side the railroad track, so I could go there." 
 
 " Oh, come, let's go tell Miss Eloise," said 
 Adele with an eagerness which seemed to sug- 
 gest that perhaps the house would disappear 
 over night. And the two sought Miss Eloise 
 without delay. 
 
 "I've told Jessie your secret," said Adele 
 bursting in upon her teacher, " and she knows 
 exactly the house for you and Mr. Davis. Her 
 father can tell you all about it." 
 
 Miss Eloise looked up from her embroidery, a 
 little flush mounting to her cheek. " What do 
 you think of my secret, Jessie ? " she asked draw- 
 ing the little girl to her side. 
 
 " I think it is a very nice one for Mr. Davis," 
 she answered. 
 
 Miss Eloise laughed, and Miss Betty said, " I 
 must tell him that." 
 
 " Why don't you think it is nice for me ? " 
 Miss Eloise asked Jessie. 
 
 " Maybe I shall think it is nice if you live in 
 * The Beeches,' " she said. 
 
 "Then we surely must see about it. Is the
 
 202 Playmate Polly 
 
 name of the place * The Beeches,' and is it near 
 here?" 
 
 " It is just beyond our place," Jessie told her, 
 " but the house hasn't been lived in for a long 
 time. The man who owns it has gone abroad 
 and wants to sell it. My father can tell you all 
 about it, for we have the keys at our house." 
 
 "Then we must certainly see about it," said 
 Miss Eloise, turning to Miss Betty. '' That would 
 just suit, Betty, and I should rather be on this 
 side the railroad, for then we should be between 
 Appledore and Fulton so we could control both. 
 Thank you, Jessie, for coming to tell me. Of 
 course we shall not open our school till next fall, 
 but if the house is out of repair it will take some 
 time to put it in order, and one should be in plenty 
 of time for such things. Must you go now ? " 
 
 "Yes, it is getting late," said Jessie, "and I 
 mustn't be out after dark." 
 
 " I hope you are bundled up warm," said Miss 
 Betty, " for it is getting so cold." 
 
 " I'll run all the way," said Jessie, " and that 
 will keep me warm." She made her adieux and 
 started off, her thoughts full of Miss Eloise and 
 her secret.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 What Was Found Out
 
 CHAPTER 
 What Was Found Oat 
 
 THAT winter had really come was made ap- 
 parent the next morning when a light fall of 
 snow covered the ground. Jessie looked out of 
 her window and saw that Playmate Polly wore 
 a white hood and that a scarf of snow hung down 
 on one side of her. "I think it looks rather 
 well," said Jessie to herself. "I wonder if 
 mother will let me go where I can see closer. I 
 have never been to Polly's in winter time. I 
 wish it were Saturday." 
 
 She was so excited over the new snow that she 
 could scarcely wait till breakfast was over to go 
 down the hill toward the brook. Mrs. Loomis 
 consented to her making a short call upon Play- 
 mate Polly. " For I do so want to see her white 
 hood," said Jessie, "and I will wear my rubbers 
 so I shall not get my feet wet. If Adele comes 
 tell her I will be back in five minutes, or may I 
 stay ten minutes, mother ? "
 
 206 Playmate Polly 
 
 " Not longer," her mother told her. 
 
 She set off over the untrodden snow that lay 
 between the house and the fence, but beyond 
 this she discovered that some one had been be- 
 fore her, for there were footprints in the snow, 
 queer little footprints that went on for a short 
 distance and then stopped beginning again fur- 
 ther on. 
 
 " Eb has been down to see Polly," said Jessie 
 to herself. She ran on leaving her own foot- 
 prints by the side of Eb's and when she was 
 within a little distance of the row of willows, she 
 saw that Eb was sitting on Polly's head, and 
 was, as Adele said, whispering in her ear. Jes- 
 sie stood still for a moment to watch him, and 
 while she was looking suddenly he disappeared. 
 Jessie was astonished. "Where in the world 
 has he gone ? " she exclaimed. " I saw him and 
 then I didn't see him. I must go right there and 
 ask Polly about it." She went on toward the 
 tree and presently discovered that which had the 
 appearance of a hood when she saw it from her 
 window had now changed into a wreath upon 
 Polly's head. " I think that is vary funny," said 
 Jessie.
 
 What Was Found Oat 207 
 
 She went close to the tree and looked up, and 
 while she was looking, out popped Eb's black 
 head from the centre of the wreath of snow. At 
 sight of Jessie he began to scold and repeat his 
 "Hallo "a great many times. "I do believe 
 there is a hole there," said Jessie. "I never 
 knew that before, but then I am not tall enough 
 to see over the top of your head, Polly. That is 
 why you have a wreath instead of a hood. I 
 wish I could see in." She looked at Eb who was 
 strutting uneasily about, and an idea came to 
 her. "I do believe, Ebon} 7 Loomis," she ex- 
 claimed, " that is where you hide things ! " 
 
 Full of this discovery, she ran up to the barn 
 where she saw Sam. " I wish you would bring 
 a ladder, Sam," she said. " I want to see if there 
 is a hole in that little tree. I believe it is where 
 Eb hides his treasures." 
 
 " You don't say so," said Sam. " What makes 
 you think that ? " 
 
 " I saw his tracks on the way down. First he 
 would walk a little and then he would fly, for 
 there were spaces between the tracks. "When I 
 got down there I saw him sitting on the tree, and 
 I believe he had something in his beak, though I
 
 2o8 Playmate Polly 
 
 couldn't see exactly. All of a sudden he wasn't 
 there, but in a minute I saw his head pop up from 
 the top of the tree." Not for the world would 
 she have divulged to Sam that Playmate Polly 
 was really a person. He would never understand 
 how such a thing could be. 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder if you was right," said 
 Sam. "I can't go down just this minute, but 
 after a while I will go and look." 
 
 " I wish you could go now," said Jessie, " for 
 I have got to go to school." 
 
 " Wish I could," Sam answered, " but I will go 
 before you get back. I reckon if there is any' 
 thing there it will stay. He ain't likely to move 
 it." Jessie was obliged to be satisfied with this, 
 and knowing it was high time she was off to her 
 lessons, she went up to the house for her books, 
 stopping to tell her mother of what she suspected 
 Eb. But there was not much time to discuss it 
 then, for it was getting late and she must hurry 
 away. 
 
 She found Adele in a high state of excitement 
 over the arrival of the big dog her father had 
 promised her. He was a beautiful collie, and 
 already had attached himself to his little mistress,
 
 What Was Found Out 209 
 
 It is safe to say that lessons did not receive the 
 attention they should that morning. Moreover 
 even Eb's tricks were lost sight of in the presence 
 of the new pet. So Adele was not told of what 
 Jessie had seen that morning. 
 
 Indeed it was not till after dinner that Jessie 
 remembered that Sam was going to investigate 
 the top of Playmate Polly's snow-wreathed head ; 
 and she hunted him up to find out what he had 
 discovered. He was not at the barn where she 
 first looked for him, but as she turned from there 
 she heard a chop-chopping from the direction of 
 the brook. What was Sam doing ? She hurried 
 toward the spot, and saw him with axe uplifted. 
 She uttered one cry of dismay and the next min- 
 ute Polly toppled over and lay prostrate on the 
 ground. She ran toward the fallen figure of her 
 late companion. " Oh, poor Polly," she whis- 
 pered under her breath, her eyes full of tears. 
 
 When she reached the place where Playmate 
 Polly had stood Sam was bending over a hollow 
 stump. He looked up with a laugh. " You was 
 right," he said. " Here's that little black thief's 
 treasure." He put his hand into the stump and 
 drew forth the three spoons, a brass thimble, some
 
 210 Playmate Polly 
 
 shining bits of glass, several bright buttons, and, 
 last of all, Adele's lost Peter Pan. "Well, I 
 never ! " exclaimed Sara. 
 
 Jessie drew a long sigh. " Oh, Sam," she said 
 tremulously, " why did you have to cut it down ? " 
 
 " It wasn't no good," said Sam. " Hollow all 
 through. Your father said it had best come 
 down, and then we could see what that rascal 
 had hid there." 
 
 " But I liked her," said Jessie sadly, feeling 
 that she had been the cause of Playmate Polly's 
 downfall. 
 
 Sam looked at her curiously. "First time I 
 ever heard a tree called her" he said. 
 
 Jessie looked at the chips scattered around, at 
 Polly's head from which her wreath had fallen. 
 " Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! " she sighed. 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Sam. "Ain't 
 you glad to get your doll baby back ? " 
 
 " It isn't mine ; it's Adele's," said Jessie. 
 *' Yes, I am very glad to get that. Oh, Sam ! " 
 she cried in alarm as she saw him with axe again 
 uplifted, " you're not going to chop her to pieces ! " 
 
 Sam lowered the axe. "I thought I might as 
 well," he said. "Make a little fire-wood."
 
 What Was Found Out 211 
 
 " Please don't ! Please don't I " she cried. 
 
 "Well, you're a funny one all right," said Sam 
 shouldering his axe. " Settle it with your father ; 
 'tain't no odds to me." 
 
 Jessie stood for a moment looking at the pros- 
 trate Polly and then she turned and walked 
 slowly to the house, carrying with her the three 
 spoons and the little scarlet-coated Peter Pan. 
 She went into the sitting-room and laid the 
 things on the table. " Mother," she said sol- 
 emnly, " Playmate Polly is dead." 
 
 Mrs, Loomis looked up from her sewing. 
 " What on earth do you mean, daughter ? " she 
 said. 
 
 Jessie picked up the things she had laid on the 
 table. " Sarn has felled her to the earth," she 
 said, " and he found these." 
 
 Mrs. Loomis tried to hide a smile at Jessie's 
 tragic manner. " What did he find ? " she asked. 
 
 Jessie handed her the spoons and the doll. 
 
 "Then the crow did hide them, and it was you 
 who found him out." 
 
 " Yes, I did it," returned Jessie. " Poor Polly I 
 I did it." 
 
 " My dear little girl," said Mrs. Loomis, " you
 
 212 Playmate Polly 
 
 mustn't feel badly about an old hollow tree. I 
 suppose Sam had to cut it down in order to get 
 at the things." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so," returned Jessie, " but I 
 did like her so much. Will she have to be 
 chopped up for fire- wood, mother ? Sam was go- 
 ing to do it, but I stopped him, and he said I must 
 settle it with father. Do you suppose he will 
 care if she isn't ? " 
 
 " I don't imagine he will care at all, for a little 
 old tree like that would be small loss." 
 
 " Will you ask him not to ? " 
 
 " Why, yes, if you like ; but why not ask him 
 yourself ? " 
 
 " I don't like to talk to any one but you about 
 Polly," said Jessie after a pause. " Even Adele 
 never could understand." 
 
 Mrs. Loomis kissed the rather woe-be-gone lit- 
 tle face. " Then, my darling," she said, " I am 
 very sorry you have lost your Polly, and you 
 may rest assured that she shall stay just as she 
 lies as long as you wish. I am very glad to get 
 back the spoons, though I am sorry they could 
 not have been discovered in another place." 
 
 " I am glad to get back Adele's doll, too. Here
 
 What Was Found Out 213 
 
 she comes no\v, mother, and she has her lovely 
 dog with her." 
 
 Adele came in with a rush, her dog, which she 
 had named Kob, frisking after her. "Go out, 
 Kob," cried Adele. " Aunt Betty said I could 
 bring him if I promised he shouldn't come in the 
 house. His feet are all wet." She closed the 
 door after Eob, shutting him out on the porch, 
 where he lay down to wait for her. "Why, 
 where did you find my Peter Pan ? " asked 
 Adele whose quick eyes spied the doll first thing. 
 
 " Sam found it and the spoons in a hollow tree. 
 It was Eb who took it and the spoons, too. He 
 hid them with some other things." 
 
 " I knew it was Polly," said Adele with a 
 laugh. "I always said she had them." 
 
 " Oh, Adele, don't talk that way," returned 
 Jessie in a distressed voice. " Polly is dead." 
 
 Adele looked at her for a minute to see if she 
 really were in earnest. " What do you mean ? " 
 she said. 
 
 " Sam had to chop her down to get at the things. 
 They were down so deep he couldn't reach them." 
 
 " Oh," said Adele, " I am sorry, Jessie, I truly 
 am, and I wish I had never said mean things
 
 2 1 4 Playmate Polly 
 
 about her. I shall never, never, never, be so hor- 
 
 ., . 
 rid again." 
 
 Playmate Polly was allowed to lie where she 
 had fallen, and in time the green grass and flow- 
 ering weeds grew up all around her and quite hid 
 her from view. And the next year there was no 
 thievish crow to hide away his spoils in hollow 
 trees. For with the spring came visitors of his 
 own kind, among them such a charming young 
 lady crow as caused Eb to forsake his old friends, 
 and he flew away with the flock to live a wild 
 life. Once Jessie passing along through the or- 
 chard heard something above her head cry out : 
 " Hallo ! " and she believed the black wings which 
 she saw among the branches must belong to her 
 old pet, and the next winter a pair of crows came 
 often, when the snow was on the ground, to feed 
 with the chickens. Minerva never drove them 
 away, for she believed it was Eb and his mate 
 who had returned to his familiar haunts, counting 
 upon receiving hospitality. 
 
 Thus Jessie lost two of her companions, but as 
 time went on she and Adele became closer friends, 
 who were happy with Kob, Cloudy and the dolls. 
 Before it was time to open the grotto again,
 
 What Was Found Out 215 
 
 Adele had renamed her doll of the scarlet coat. 
 " I shall call him Reddy," she said to Jessie, who 
 understood that on account of Playmate Polly 
 and the old quarrel, Adele wanted to be generous. 
 
 So Peter Pan had it all his own way, though 
 he often went to see Reddy in a fine cave that 
 Jessie helped Adele make for him. 
 
 Early in June Miss Eloise left the yellow house 
 to be married, and one day, a couple of weeks 
 after, there was a great stir and bustle at " The 
 Beeches." Mrs. Loomis, Miss Betty, Dr. and Mrs. 
 Sadtler were all on hand to welcome home the 
 bride and groom. Jessie and Adele were on the 
 watch for the carriage as it drove from the sta- 
 tion. Adele was the first to spy it coming up the 
 road. '" There they are ! " she cried. 
 
 " There they are," echoed Jessie. " Let's run 
 and get the dears." 
 
 The two stood on the porch as Mr. and Mrs. 
 Davis alighted. Adele was the first to rush for- 
 ward and thrust something into Mr. Davis's arms. 
 "This is for you," she cried. 
 
 " And this is for you." Jessie turned to Mrs. 
 Davis and deposited in her arms a small black 
 kitten.
 
 216 Playmate Polly 
 
 Mr. Davis accepted the roly-poly puppy that 
 Adele had given him and turning to his wife, he 
 said, "You know all along, Eloise, I have de- 
 clared we must have a dog." 
 
 " And I said no home could be complete with- 
 out a cat," returned his wife laughing. " You are 
 two dear children to supply our wants so soon," 
 she said to the little girls. 
 
 " We think it is going to be lovely here," said 
 Adele eagerly. 
 
 " Max and Walter are coming here to school," 
 Jessie announced. "Are you glad to be our 
 neighbors, Miss Eloise ? " 
 
 "My dear, I am delighted. I didn't realize 
 what a charming old place this really was. 
 What have you all been doing to it ? " She 
 looked around upon a well ordered garden, upon 
 a smoothly cut lawn, upon a freshly painted porch 
 where boxes of flowers stood, and then she caught 
 sight of the group within doors who were stand- 
 ing to welcome her. " You dear people," she said 
 holding out her hands. " How good you are to 
 us, and how the whole place is changed. What 
 fairy work is this ? " 
 
 "You must ask these little girls," said Mrs.
 
 What Was Found Out 217 
 
 Loomis, smiling down at Jessie and Adele. 
 " They put it into our heads, and said it was a 
 shame for you to come home to a dingy old 
 house, to a neglected lawn and a flowerless 
 garden, and so we thought, too. Therefore we 
 have all taken turns in seeing that things were 
 done as they should be. And now come in to 
 supper." 
 
 " Supper ? " Mrs. Davis looked at her husband. 
 " And we looked forward to an empty house with 
 a still emptier larder. We said we should have 
 to picnic for days till we could get the house in 
 running order." Still holding the kitten, she put 
 her free arm around both little girls, and they 
 wondered why her eyes should be full of tears. 
 " We shall never feel like strangers here, Fred," 
 she said to Mr. Davis. 
 
 " Indeed, I should say not," he replied. " This 
 is a true home-coming." 
 
 All summer long work went on in the big 
 white house till fall found it ready with class 
 rooms, with a new gymnasium, with pretty sleep- 
 ing rooms for the boarding pupils. And every 
 room was filled, while the day scholars were not 
 a few.
 
 2i 8 Playmate Polly 
 
 Jessie and Adele started off together. Max 
 and Walter had already gone on ahead. Adele 
 was unusually thoughtful on the way. "What 
 are you thinking of ? " Jessie asked her. " You 
 are so quiet." 
 
 "I was thinking about a lot of things," was 
 the reply. "I was thinking suppose papa had 
 not found the yellow house for us to live in, 
 then I should never have known you, Miss Eloise 
 would never have found 'The Beeches,' and I 
 might have been far away somewhere, just as 
 lonely as I was before." 
 
 " But you did come to the yellow house, you 
 see," said Jessie, " and now we are friends and 
 are always going to the same school." 
 
 "And after we grow up we shall still be 
 friends. Say we shall, Jessie." 
 
 " Of course," returned Jessie. 
 
 Max ahead of them called over his shoulder, 
 " You two had better hurry up. We don't want 
 to be late the first day." 
 
 The two girls increased their lagging pace. 
 " We're coming," Jessie called.
 
 Bullocks 
 
 LOG Angeles 
 
 A 000 071 322 2