"Oh, I know, but it is a fearful responsibility," said Jasper, wrinkling his brows worse yet. "Well, here goes!"
He plunged his fingers in, and out they came with the strip, "Percy."
"Now, Jasper, you couldn"t possibly have chosen better," declared Polly, hopping up and down, "for Phronsie did so want to hear Percy speak. And it will please Percy so. Oh, I"m so glad!"
"Well, I"m thankful I haven"t to draw again," declared Jasper, "for we can"t have but three pieces beside the overture, you know. So it"s your turn now, Polly."
"Oh dear me!" exclaimed Polly, the color dying down in her cheek, "if I shouldn"t draw the right one, Jasper King; and it"s the last chance."
She stood so long with her hand poised over the Chinese bowl, that Jasper finally laughed out. "Oh, Polly, aren"t your tiptoes tired?"
"Not half so tired as I am," said Polly grimly. "Jasper, I"m going to run across the room, and then run back and draw suddenly without stopping to think."
"Do," cried Jasper.
So Polly ran into the further corner, and came flying up, to get on her tiptoes, thrust in her fingers, and bring out the third and last strip.
"The deed is done!" exclaimed Jasper. "Now, Polly, let"s see who it is."
"Pick!" he shouted.
And "Pickering!" screamed Polly. And they took hold of hands and spun round and round the den.
"Oh, dear, we"re knocking off your beautiful program," cried Polly, pausing in dismay.
"It hasn"t hurt it any--our mad whirl hasn"t," said Jasper, picking up the long program where it had slipped off the table to the floor.
"Polly, you can"t think how I wanted Pick to be chosen. It will do him so much good."
"And only think, if I hadn"t chosen him out of that bowl!" cried Polly, in dismay at the very thought.
"Well, you did, Polly, so it"s all right," said Jasper. "Now everything is fixed, and it"s going to be the finest affair that ever was," he added enthusiastically; "and the best of it is--I can"t help it, Polly--that Mrs. Chatterton isn"t to come back till next week," he brought up in great satisfaction.
Mrs. Chatterton had gone to New York for some weeks, but was to return to finish her visit at "Cousin Horatio"s."
"And I am so glad too," confessed Polly, but feeling as if she oughtn"t to say it. "And isn"t everything just beautiful, Jasper!"
"I should think it was!" cried Jasper jubilantly. "Just as perfect as can be, Polly."
And the next afternoon, when the last preparations for the grand entertainment were made, and everybody was rushing off to dress for dinner, a carriage drove up the winding driveway. There were big trunks on the rack, and two people inside.
Joel, racing along the hall with Tom at his heels, took one look. "Oh, whickets!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, stopping short, to bring his feet down with a thud.
"What"s the row?" asked Tom, plunging up to him in amazement.
"That person." Joel pointed a finger at the carriage. "I must tell Polly," and off he darted.
Tom, not feeling at all sure that he ought to wait to see "that person,"
wheeled about and followed.
"Polly," roared Joel, long before he got to her. "She"s come!"
"Has she?" Polly called back, supposing he meant Alexia. "Well, tell her to come up here, Joe, in my room."
Joel took the stairs two at a time, Tom waiting below, and dashed into the blue and white room without ceremony.
"Polly, you don"t understand," he blurted out; "she"s come!"
Polly had her head bent over a drawer, picking out some ribbons. At the sound of Joel"s voice she drew it out and looked at him.
"Why, how funny you look, Joe!" she said. "What is the matter?"
"I guess you"d look funny," said Joel glumly, "if you"d seen Mrs.
Chatterton."
"_Not Mrs. Chatterton!_" exclaimed Polly aghast; and jumping up, her face very pale, and upsetting her box of ribbons, she seized Joel"s arm.
"Tell me this very minute, Joel Pepper," she commanded, "what do you mean?"
"Mrs. Chatterton has just come. I saw her coming up the drive. There"s Johnson now letting her in." Joel had it all out now in a burst, ready to cry at sight of Polly"s face, as the bustle in the hall below and the thin, high voice proclaimed the worst.
"Oh, Joel, Joel!" mourned Polly, releasing his arm to wring her hands.
"What _shall_ we do?"
"She"s an old harpy," declared Joel; "mean, horrid, old thing!"
"Oh, stop, Joel!" cried Polly, quite horrified.
"Well, she is," said Joel vindictively, "to come before we"d got back to school."
"Well, don"t say so," begged Polly, having hard work to keep back her own words, crowding for utterance. "Mamsie wouldn"t like it, Joey."
Joel, with this thought on his mind, only grumbled out something so faintly that really Polly couldn"t hear as she ran out into the hall.
"Oh, Jasper!"
"Polly, did you know? What _can_ we do?" It was impossible for him to conceal his vexation. And Polly lost sight of her own discomfiture, in the attempt to comfort him.
"And father--it will just make him as miserable as can be," said Jasper gloomily. "And he was so happy over the beautiful time we were going to have this evening." He was so vexed he could do nothing but prance up and down the hall.
"Well, we must make him forget that she is here," said Polly, swallowing her own distress at the change of all the conditions.
"How can we, Polly?" Jasper stopped for a minute and stared at her.
"I mean," said Polly, feeling that it was a very hopeless case after all, "that we mustn"t show that we mind it, her coming back, and must act as if we forgot it; and then that will keep him happy perhaps."
"If you only will, Polly," cried Jasper, seizing both of her hands, "it will be the best piece of work you ever did."
"Oh, I can"t do it alone," exclaimed Polly, in consternation. "Never in all this world, Jasper, unless you help too."