There was but one way to find out, and she chose to take it. She ran up the path that led to where the little group was sitting and dropped on the gra.s.s beside Harry Grafton.
She listened to the story, but she did not think it at all amusing.
Anyone who knew Gwen would know that it could not interest her. She cared for no story of which she was not the heroine.
When the tale was finished and the playmates were telling Polly how fine a story it was, Gwen, speaking very loudly, made herself heard; she usually did.
"Everybody listen while I tell a story that"ll scare you "till you most can"t breathe. It"s a true story, too!"
"Go ahead, Gwen," said Rob.
"Yes, tell it!" said Harry. "I don"t mind being scared if you can do it!"
She needed no urging.
"One time when I was little---" she commenced, but Harry interrupted.
"When was that?" he asked.
"Stop, Harry!" whispered Leslie.
"One time, when I was LITTLER than I am now, I went into our parlor all alone when it was almost dark, and looked at the pictures. Mama has ever so many, and some of them are landscapes and some of them are portraits.
"The one I liked to look at scared me every time I saw it. It was a big, tall lady dressed in yellow and she had a feather fan.
"When I saw her in the bright daylight I thought she moved SOME, but whenever I looked at her when it was almost dark she seemed to move MORE!"
Gwen paused to see if the other children were impressed, and looked up just in time to see Rob Lindsey "nudge" his sister. Her eyes flashed.
"Well, p"raps you don"t believe it, Rob Lindsey, but I SAW it, and I guess I know!" she said.
"Go on, Gwen," said Rob, who was a great tease, "I only touched Lena"s arm to let her know the "scare" part of the yarn was coming."
Thus rea.s.sured, Gwen continued her story.
"Well, this time I"m telling "bout, the lady in the yellow gown looked at me, and--WAVED her fan!"
"Hot day?" questioned Rob, but Gwen chose not to notice what he said.
"She waved her big feather fan slower and slower, and then--she walked RIGHT OUT OF THE PICTURE and came down on the floor!"
"Oh--o!" said Princess Polly, and "Oh--oo--oo!" said Lena, but Rob asked a question.
"Did your fine lady come down on the floor in a heap?"
"Did she BUST her feather fan?" questioned Harry Grafton.
"You"re not nice to laugh when I"m telling a story," said Gwen, "and I guess you wouldn"t have laughed if you"d BEEN there!"
"Why, what happened?" Lena asked, partly because she was curious and partly to be kind.
"I"ll never know just what did truly happen, because just as she came toward me, I was so scared I fainted, and when I came to, the lady had vanished, but the big hole in the canvas showed JUST WHERE SHE"D STOOD!"
"Why Gwen Harcourt! You know that story"s a fib story all the way through!" said Harry.
""Tis NOT!" said Gwen, "and I guess I know!"
She sprang from the gra.s.s, and ran down the driveway.
"I guess when you see the big frame, and the picture with a big hole in it just the shape of the lady, that showed where she WAS, I guess you"ll HAVE to b"lieve it," she said, and having said this to the boys that had teased her, she hurried down the avenue.
"Oh, what an awful story!" said Polly, "it made me feel like shivering, and I was glad the boys were with us."
"If Gwen Harcourt likes to tell such stories, she can," said Leslie, "but she needn"t say they"re true."
"Oh, but perhaps SOME of it---" Polly stopped. She had meant to speak kindly, but what part of so silly a story could be true?
"You"ve been in her parlor, Leslie," said Harry, "did YOU see the picture with the big hole in it, just where the fine lady stepped out from the frame? Leslie, HAVE you?"
"Yes," admitted Leslie, "I"ve been there."
"WAS the big picture with the big hole in it hanging there?" he asked.
"N--NO!" said Leslie, "and I"ll tell you all something. A lady that mama knows heard some of Gwen"s stories, and she told Mrs. Harcourt what perfectly awful things Gwen was telling, and Mrs. Harcourt said that she was very glad, and thankful that Gwen had such great imagination, and said she wouldn"t, for the world do anything to check it, because it"s a SURE sign she"ll be something fine some day.
"Mrs. Harcourt said it was just wonderful what a strong imagination Gwen had, and she said she thought she would be either an author, or a play writer, or something great."
"And papa, when he heard that, said he"d want to be careful lest she grow up to be an awful liar!" said Harry.
"Oh, hush!" said Leslie, "papa said falsifier or some name like that."
"Well, that"s the same thing," said Harry.
The little friends talked of Gwen, and the stories that she told.
The boys thought them ridiculous, and laughed at the idea that she expected her playmates to believe them, but neither Polly, Lena, nor Leslie could see it that way.
"I wouldn"t mind the stories," Polly said, "because anyone can make up stories just for fun, but I do hate to have her say they"re TRUE."
"And she sticks to it," said Harry.
"That"s it," said Lena, "she says they"re true, and she dared us to come down to her house, and see the picture!"
Gwen was safe in daring them, for not one of the little friends liked her well enough to go to her home, none save Inez, and Inez had not heard the story about the picture.
One sunny morning Polly ran along the avenue to overtake Lena Lindsey.
"Lena! Lena!" she cried, "wait for me! I"ve a letter from Rose," she said, as she walked along with Lena.