"Indeed she is," responded the boy heartily. "Here now, Polly, remember, you slipped up a bit on that first bar. Now!"
The twenty-first of December came all too soon for Polly and Jasper, whose school duties had engrossed them till two days before, but after hard work getting up the stage properties, and the many rehearsals, everything was at last p.r.o.nounced ready, the drawing-room and music-room locked, the keys given to Mrs. Whitney who promised faithfully to see that no one peeped in who should not, and Polly hurried into her hat and jacket, to go to the station with Jasper to meet the boys.
Thomas drove furiously, as they were a bit late, and they arrived only a minute before the train puffed in.
"Here they are!" cried Polly, and "Here they are!" cried Jasper, together, in great excitement, on the platform.
"Halloo, Polly!" cried Joel, prancing out of the car first, and "How d"ye do, Polly?" as they all hurried after. "Halloo, Jasper!"
"Oh, Polly! it"s good to see you!" This from Davie, not ashamed to set a kiss on her red lips.
Van and Percy looked as if they wanted to, but contented themselves with wringing her hand nearly off, while Joel declared he would look after the luggage.
"No, I will," cried Van, dropping Polly"s hand.
"You forget," said Percy quietly, "I hold the checks, I"ll attend to it myself." He unclosed his brown traveling glove, and Van, at sight of them, turned back.
"Go along, do, then," he cried; "I don"t want to, I"m sure; I"d much rather stay with Polly. How d"ye do, Thomas?" he called carelessly to the coachman on his box, who was continually touching his hat and indulging in broad smiles of content.
Polly was tiptoeing in very delight, holding Davie"s hand closely while her eyes roved from one to the other of the boys, and her tongue ran fast indeed. A group of girls, who had also come down to the station to meet friends, stopped a bit as they came laughing and chatting by.
"How d"ye, boys?" they said carelessly to the three home-comers. "Oh, Polly! won"t it be entrancing to-night?" cried one of them, seizing her arm as she spoke.
"Hush!" said Polly, as she tried to stop her.
"May I bring Elsie Fay? she"s come on the train to stay over Christmas with her aunt. May I, Polly?" begged another girl eagerly.
"Yes, yes," said Polly in a paroxysm of fear lest Joel, who was crowding up between them, should catch a word; "do be still," she whispered. "Bring anybody; only stop, Alexia."
"He won"t hear," said Alexia carelessly; "that boy doesn"t mind our talking; his head"s full of skating and coasting."
"You"re going to have something to-night that you don"t want me to know about," declared Joel, his chubby face set defiantly, and crowding closer; "so there; now I"m going to find out what it is."
"If we don"t want you to know, you ought not to try to find out, Joel Pepper," cried Alexia. "And you shan"t, either."
"There, now you see," cried Polly, unable to keep still, while her face grew red too. "O dear! what shall we do?"
"You are--you are," cried Joel, capering up and down the platform, his black eyes shining with delight. "Now I know for certain, and it"s at our house, too, for you asked Polly if you might bring some other girl, Elsie somebody or other, so! Oh! I"ll soon know."
"Joel," exclaimed Jasper suddenly, clapping him on the shoulder, "I"m going round to the gymnasium; want to go with me?"
Joel stopped his capering at once, this new idea thrusting out the old one.
"Don"t I, though!" he cried, with a nod at Polly and her friends. "But I"ll find out when I do get home," the nod declared plainly.
But Jasper also nodded. He said, "He won"t get home till late; depend on me." And then "Come on, Joe," he cried; "I"m going to walk," and they were off.
Alexia pinched Polly"s gray woolen jacket sleeve convulsively. "What an escape," she breathed.
"Here comes Percy," cried Polly nervously, and she broke away from her and the other girls, and ran to meet him, and the two boys following.
"Where"s Jasper?" asked Percy, rendered quite important in air and step, from his encounter with the baggage officials.
"Oh! he isn"t going home with us," said Polly. "Come, do let us get in," and she scampered off to the carriage and climbed within.
"That"s funny," said Percy, jumping in after.
Van opened his lips to tell where Jasper had gone, but remembering Percy"s delight in such an expedition, he closed them quickly, and added himself to the company in the carriage. Davie followed, and closed the door quickly.
"Stop! where"s Joel?" asked Percy. "Thomas, we"ve forgotten Joe,"
rapping on the gla.s.s to the coachman.
"No, we haven"t; he isn"t going to drive," said Polly.
"Oh!" and Percy, thinking that Joel had stolen a march on them on his good strong legs, now cried l.u.s.tily, "Go on, Thomas; get ahead as fast as you can," and presently he was lost in the babel of laughter and chatter going on in the coach.
"I"ve a piece of news," presently cried Van in a lull. "Davie"s bringing home a prize; first in cla.s.sics, you know."
"Oh, Davie!" screamed Polly, and she leaned over to throw her arms around him; "Mamsie will be so glad. Davie, you can"t think how glad she"ll be!"
Davie"s brown cheek glowed. "It isn"t much," he said simply, "there were so many prizes given out."
"Well, you"ve taken one," cried Polly, saying the blissful over and over. "How perfectly elegant!"
Van drummed on the carriage window discontentedly. "I could have taken one if I"d had the mind to."
"Hoh-oh!" shouted Percy over in his corner. "Well, you didn"t have the mind; that"s what was wanting."
"You keep still," cried Van, flaming up, and whirling away from his window. "You didn"t take any, either. Polly, his head was under water all the time, unless some of the boys tugged him along every day. We hardly got him home at all."
"No such thing," contradicted Percy flatly, his face growing red.
"Polly, he tells perfectly awful yarns. You mustn"t believe him, Polly, You won"t, will you?" He leaned over appealingly toward her.
"Oh! don"t, don"t," cried Polly, quite dismayed, "talk so to each other."
"Well, he"s so hateful," cried Van, "and the airs he gives himself! I can"t stand them, Polly, you know"--
"And he"s just as mean," cried Percy vindictively. "Oh! you can"t think, Polly. Here we are," as Thomas gave a grand flourish through the stone gateway, and up to the steps.
"I"ll help you out," and he sprang out first.
"No, I will," declared Van, opening the door on the other side, jumping out and running around the carriage. "Here, Polly, take my hand, do."
"No, I got here first," said Percy eagerly, his brown glove extended quite beyond Van"s hand.
"I don"t want any one to help me, who speaks so to his brother," said Polly in a low voice, and with her most superb air stepping down alone, she ran up the steps to leave them staring in each other"s faces.
Here everybody came hurrying out to the porch, and they were soon drawn into the warm loving welcome awaiting them.