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 IC 
 
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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Carol Kammeft 
 
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 m 
 

 PRINTED INU S.A 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 PZ 7.W59P5 
 
 Phyllis, a twin / 
 
 3 1924 006 799 559 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924006799559 
 
"It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to 
 Phyllis, "you are. Don's girl." 
 
 (.See Page 132) 
 
PHYLLIS 
 
 A TWIN 
 
 BY 
 
 DOROTHY WHITEHILL 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 THELMA GOOCH 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP 
 
 PUBLISHERS NEW YORK 
 
Copyright, 1920, 
 
 by 
 BARSE & CO. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PA0I 
 
 I Phyllis 11 
 
 II Don 18 
 
 III Friends 25 
 
 IV Janet Arrives 37 
 
 V School 47 
 
 VI Tom's Last Day 59 
 
 VII Daphne's Advice 69 
 
 VIII A Change in Janet 79 
 
 IX Twins Indeed 88 
 
 X The Screened Window . . . u. „.. . . 100 
 
 XI THE MA<SgDERADE . . ;' - ; .*.;.•*. . . in 
 
 XII C^iic^.duESSES "kjsHT/ . '• /. - .,"'•£» , . . .122 
 
 XIII A 'ITlue Monday . . .".'.'•.".".■. .133 
 
 ' -, . J 
 
 XIV MlSSSP-RINGLE 144 
 
 XV A White Mitten 154 
 
 XVI Don! 167 
 
 XVII Christmas Vacation 175 
 
 XVIII The Enchanted Kingdom 184 
 
 XIX Phyllis's "Math" Paper 193 
 
 XX The Farewell Party 202 
 
 XXI Conclusion '.210 
 
iLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out his hand to Phyl- 
 lis. "You are Don's girl" Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis 
 in all her life and she couldn't understand it" . . 53 
 
 "Vers two of you," he said gravely ........ 95 
 
 "Something white caught her eye" ....... 159 
 
PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PHYLLIS 
 
 A GLORIOUS autumn day spread its 
 golden sunshine over the city. In the 
 parks the red leaves blazed under the 
 deep blue sky, and the water in the lakes sparkled 
 over the reflections of the tall buildings mirrored 
 in their depths. People walked with a brisk step, 
 as though they had but suddenly awakened from a 
 long drowsy sleep to the coolness of a new, vigor- 
 ous world. 
 
 In a house just off Fifth Avenue, a short dis- 
 tance from Central Park, all the windows were 
 open to admit the dazzling sunshine. Soft white 
 curtains fluttered in the crisp breeze, and the 
 rooms were flooded with cool, yellow light. 
 
 Phyllis Page stood in the center of one of the 
 rooms and looked critically about her. There was 
 
12 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 no need of criticism, for it was as nearly perfect 
 as a room conld be. 
 
 The walls were hung with dainty pink and white 
 paper. A bed of ivory white, with carved roses 
 at the head and covered with a sheer embroidered 
 spread, filled one corner; a tall chest of drawers 
 stood opposite, and a dressing-table with a triple 
 mirror was placed between the two windows. 
 
 A little to one side of the open grate was a tiny 
 table just large enough to hold a bowl of pink 
 roses. In all the room not a pin was out of place. 
 
 As Phyllis surveyed it all for perhaps the 
 twentieth time that day, a look of disappointment 
 cast a momentary shadow over her usually merry 
 face. 
 
 "There isn't one single thing more to do," she 
 complained. ' ' Oh, dear, I do hope she likes it. ' ' 
 
 The suggestion of doubt made her hurry to her 
 aunt's room on the floor below. She found Miss 
 Carter sitting before an open fire reading. 
 
 "Auntie Mogs," she said, standing in the door- 
 way, "suppose Janet doesn't like it! The room, 
 I mean." 
 
 There was real concern in her voice, but in spite 
 of it Miss Carter laughed. 
 
 "Why, Phyllis, you little goose, of course shell 
 
PHYLLIS 13 
 
 like it. It's a dear room, and it will just suit her 
 exactly. What put such a ridiculous notion into 
 your head?" 
 
 "But, Auntie Mogs, it's so awfully different 
 from her own room," Phyllis protested. "Per- 
 haps she '11 miss her big four-posted bed and those 
 ducky rag rugs. I would, I think," — she hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 Miss Carter laughed again. 
 
 "But that's exactly why Janet won't," she an- 
 swered. ' ' She has grown up with all those lovely 
 old things and she is used to them. She has never 
 seen anything like her new room and she will love 
 it, I am sure. Just as you loved the dear old room 
 we had at her house, only of course Janet won't go 
 into such ecstasies as you did," she added with a 
 smile. 
 
 She pulled her niece down to the arm of her 
 chair and stroked her soft golden-brown hair. 
 But Phyllis 's leaf -brown eyes were still clouded 
 with doubt. 
 
 "I want her to love it, Auntie Mogs," she said 
 softly. "I want her to love it, and I want her to 
 be happy. But, oh, dear, suppose she isn't? 
 Suppose she is homesick for Old Chester. Per- 
 haps she'll just hate the city. If she does — oh, 
 
14 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 Auntie Mogs, if she does, I think I shall die." 
 
 This time Miss Carter did not smile. 
 
 "Phyllis dear," she said kindly, "do you love 
 Janet?" 
 
 Phyllis stared in amazement. "Love her? 
 Why, of course I do ! I simply adore her. Isn't 
 she my twin, and haven't I wanted her all my 
 fife?" 
 
 Her aunt nodded. "Then I wouldn't worry," 
 she said kindly. "Poor little Janet has had very 
 little real love in her life, and I think she will he 
 very happy to be with people who do love her. 
 You must remember, dear, that although it was 
 wonderful for you to find Janet, it was just as 
 wonderful for her to find you. I think it was even 
 more wonderful perhaps, for she was very lonely 
 and you never were. Don't worry about her not 
 liking her room or the city. Just love her and her 
 happiness will take care of itself." 
 
 Phyllis jumped up and kissed her aunt. 
 
 "Oh, Auntie Mogs, you always smooth things 
 out," she exclaimed joyfully. "They ought to 
 make you President of the United States, they 
 really ought." 
 
 "Mercy me, don't say it out loud," — Miss Car- 
 ter laughed. ' ' Some one might hear you and take 
 
PHYLLIS 15 
 
 your advice. Now, go out for a walk and come 
 back for tea with pink cheeks, you look tired out. 
 And no matter how much you worry and fume, 
 Janet won't get here a minute sooner than three 
 o'clock on Wednesday." 
 
 "And that's a whole day and a half off," — 
 Phyllis sighed as she left the room to get ready 
 for her walk. 
 
 Miss Carter looked thoughtfully into the fire 
 for many minutes after she had gone. Her advice 
 to love Janet was sound, but in her own heart she 
 knew that Phyllis 's doubts were not without 
 foundation. 
 
 It had been just a little over a month ago that 
 news had come from Tom, Phyllis 's older brother, 
 that Mrs. Page had at last given in and was willing 
 to let Janet, whom she had cared for ever since she 
 had been a baby, see her twin sister Phyllis whom 
 Miss Carter had brought up. Many years before 
 Mrs. Page had insisted that the twins be sepa- 
 rated, and because Phyllis bore her mother's name 
 and Mrs. Page cruelly blamed her daughter-in- 
 law for the tragic accident that had resulted in 
 both parents' death, she had chosen to keep Janet 
 with her. Thirteen years had passed, and neither 
 of the girls had dreamed of the other's existence; 
 
16 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 perhaps they had dreamed, but they had never 
 expected their dream to come true, as it had only 
 a short month ago when Phyllis, too happy for 
 words, had jumped off the train at Old Chester 
 and into the arms of her twin. 
 
 It had been an exciting month as Miss Carter 
 reviewed it, and with all her heart she wanted the 
 happiness that both girls looked forward to for 
 the coming winter to be assured. 
 
 "If we can only keep Janet from feeling shy 
 and different from the other girls it will be all 
 right," she said at last, and fell to gazing into the 
 fire again. 
 
 Phyllis, already well on her walk in the park, 
 was busy with the same thoughts. They were 
 more concrete in form, but they amounted to the 
 same thing. She knew that she could be happy 
 with Janet and keep her from being homesick, 
 but the thought of the other girls at school made 
 her uneasy. They were nice girls, all of them, 
 and they were all fond of Phyllis, and for her 
 sake she knew they would be nice to her twin, but 
 Phyllis was not satisfied to let the matter drop 
 there. She wanted the girls to accept Janet on 
 her own merit. 
 
 The roguish autumn wind was playing tricks 
 
PHYLLIS 17 
 
 with the dead brown leaves, swirling them about 
 regardless of passers-by. One especially gusty 
 little gale made Phyllis duck her head so low that 
 she did not see where she was going. She bumped 
 into something small unexpectedly, and an angry 
 voice startled her out of her revery. 
 
 "Now, I've lost it for good. "Why don't you 
 look what you're about? Nurse says it's rude to 
 jostle." 
 
 Phyllis looked down into two very angry blue 
 eyes which, except for a glimpse of ruddy cheeks 
 almost hidden by a fur cap, were all that was 
 visible of the chubby face before her. 
 
CHAPTER n 
 
 DON 
 
 SHE tried hard not to smile. She loved and 
 understood children, and one of the chief 
 reasons that they always returned her love 
 with interest was that she always took them seri- 
 ously. 
 
 "Oh, I'm so very sorry," she apologized hum- 
 bly ; ' ' perhaps I can help you find it again. What 
 was it you lost?" 
 
 "It were a brownie, a brown leaf brownie wiv 
 crinkly legs, and I were following it and now — " 
 
 "And now I've chased it away. Isn't that a 
 shame." Phyllis was very serious. "But, do 
 you know, I think it was the brownie's own fault. 
 I felt something a minute ago, just punching and 
 kicking at my face, and I thought perhaps it was 
 an ordinary leaf but of course it couldn't have 
 been. ' ' 
 
 "It were my brownie," — the blue eyes wrinkled 
 up at the end of an impish grin. "Did it kick 
 hard?" 
 
 18 
 
DON 19 
 
 ' ' I should say it did. Look, ' ' — Phyllis took her 
 hand away from her eye. It was quite red, for 
 a bit of dust had inflamed it. 
 
 The small boy gazed at it thoughtfully. 
 
 "He hadn't ought to have hurted you," he said 
 solemnly. "He were a bad brownie, I guess — so 
 I'll go back to Nannie now." 
 
 "Where is Nannie?" Phyllis inquired, looking 
 in vain for a nurse. The park, as far as she 
 could see, was deserted. 
 
 "It doesn't matter," he said quite calmly. "I 
 just remembered I'm losted." He took Phyllis 'a 
 outstretched hand and trotted along beside her. 
 
 "Losted?" she inquired in astonishment. 
 
 "Yes, for quite a while, you see, Nannie talka 
 and talks, and to-day she were talking when the 
 brownie came, and so I ran away. Nannie doesn't 
 know about brownies; just angels and devils." 
 
 Phyllis, in spite of herself, laughed. "But if 
 Nannie has lost you, won't she be worried?" she 
 asked. 
 
 The small head nodded. "But she'll find me 
 again," he assured her. "She always does." 
 
 "What's your name?" he demanded after a 
 minute of silence. 
 
 "Phyllis Page." 
 
20 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Is that all?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Oh, I have ever so many more names than 
 that." 
 
 "What are they?" 
 
 "Donald Francis MacFarlan Keith," h© re- 
 cited glibly; "but mostly I'm called Don." 
 
 "That's a very nice name," Phyllis agreed ab- 
 sently. She was still looking for the lost Nannie. 
 
 "And I live," Don continued proudly, "at num- 
 ber theventeen East Theventy-theventh Street." 
 The s's were almost too much for him but he 
 struggled manfully. 
 
 "Why, that's very near where I live!" Phyllis 
 exclaimed, relief in her voice. "I'll take you 
 home, if we don't find Nannie." 
 
 Don decided that that might be a good idea 
 when, after a short hunt, the missing Nannie was 
 not discovered. 
 
 He talked every step of the way home, about 
 brownies, policemen, dogs and fire engines, and 
 Phyllis joined in the discussion whole heartedly 
 and agreed with him that a mounted policeman 
 was indeed superior to a banker on Wall Street. 
 
 "For," Don explained, "that's what Nannie 
 says my Daddy is, but I think policemen is nicer." 
 
DON 21 
 
 When they reached the house that Don pointed 
 out as his, they hurried up the steps, but before 
 Phyllis could press the button the door opened and 
 a boy about her own age stood on the threshold. 
 
 "I beg your pardon — " Phyllis began, but Don 
 interrupted. 
 
 "Hello, Chuck," he said seriously. "This girl 
 bringed me home because I got losted. She 's only 
 got two names but she's very nice; she knows all 
 about brownies — " 
 
 "Don!" — the elder boy spoke so sharply that 
 Phyllis was startled. 
 
 "Thank you very much," he continued, looking 
 at her. "My small cousin is always getting lost, 
 I hope he hasn't bothered you." 
 
 "Not a bit," Phyllis laughed. "We've had a 
 fine time. I'm sorry if you have been worried." 
 
 "Oh, I haven't," the boy replied, "but I think 
 his nurse has the whole police force out looking 
 for him. I knew he'd show up." 
 
 "Good-by, Don." Phyllis held out her hand, 
 and Don put his little one in it. 
 
 "Don't get lost again, will you?" 
 
 "It depends," Don replied gravely. "I can't 
 promise. Anyway I'll look for you every time I 
 go to the park, and I'll ask the brownies about 
 
22 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 you, 'cause I like you, oh, heaps better than Chuck. 
 He doesn't know anything about brownies." 
 
 Phyllis looked at the boy still standing in the 
 doorway. He was blushing. 
 
 "How silly of him," she said to Don. "We do 
 anyway, don't we?" 
 
 " 'Course," Don replied, and he insisted in 
 spite of his cousin's threats to watch and wave 
 until Phyllis was out of sight. 
 
 Phyllis, hidden by the corner, paused to laugh. 
 
 "That wasn't a very polite thing to say," she 
 admitted. "I wonder what made me think of it. 
 He looked quite nice too. I wonder who he is?" 
 
 Don for the moment was forgotten. 
 
 As Phyllis hurried home, many were the 
 thoughts that kept her company, for the brisk 
 wind had blown all her doubts away and only the 
 joy of Janet's arrival remained. 
 
 People passing her saw a slender girl of thir- 
 teen with a delicate oval face and well-shaped fea- 
 tures framed in a wealth of gold brown hair. Her 
 eyes were soft and limpid, and they held an ex- 
 pression of dreaminess in their depths. 
 
 This afternoon, however, they sparkled and 
 seemed to challenge the whole world to find a hap- 
 pier mortal. 
 
DON 23 
 
 She walked along, her step light as a fairy's, 
 her skirts still blowing at the whim of the breezes. 
 
 "I think I will stop and see some of the girls," 
 she said to herself, but she changed her mind the 
 next minute and went home instead. It was like 
 Phyllis to make up her mind one minute and 
 change it the next. 
 
 She found the house deserted on her return, and 
 she had to go down to the basement to get in. 
 
 "Where's everybody?" she demanded of Lucy, 
 the fat good-natured cook. 
 
 "Out, my dear," Lucy told her. "Your aunt 
 is out calling, and Annie has gone to the grocery 
 for me." 
 
 "What did you forget to-night? " Phyllis teased, 
 as she swung herself up on the kitchen table. 
 
 "Now, Miss Phyllis, I couldn't help it this time, 
 for how did I know that the can of mustard, stand- 
 ing there on the shelf as big as you please, was 
 empty?" 
 
 It was chronic with Lucy to forget things, and 
 it was usually Phyllis that went after them. 
 
 "Never mind, Lucy; it's hard luck. I don't 
 see myself why those everlasting cans don't tell 
 you when they are empty; it would save my steps, 
 I know that." 
 
24 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 ' « Cans speak ! Go way with you, ' ' Lucy replied 
 in a gust of laughter. 
 
 Phyllis swung down off the table. 
 
 "After two more days there'll be another me to 
 go out and buy what you forget to order," she said 
 as she ran up the back stairs. 
 
 Lucy watched her and then shook her head at 
 the row of shining pans on the wall opposite. 
 
 "That, my dear, will never be," she said sol- 
 emnly. "Look like you she may and lucky she is 
 to be so blest, but be like you, I beg to differ. The 
 dear Lord only made the one. Glory be," she 
 added piously. 
 
 Phyllis, upstairs, was trying to think of some- 
 thing, no matter how small, to do to improve 
 Janet's room. 
 
w 
 
 CHAPTER m 
 
 FRIENDS 
 
 <*7f "X yELL, dear?" Auntie Mogs looked 
 up from her paper the next morn- 
 ing at breakfast to greet her niece. 
 Phyllis kissed her and sat down quietly at her 
 place. 
 
 "Only one more morning to wait," she said hap- 
 pily, "and then — " 
 
 "And then the Page twins will have breakfast 
 together for the rest of their lives, I hope," Auntie 
 Mogs finished for her. "Or until one or the other 
 of you get married." 
 
 "Married! Oh, what a perfectly silly idea!" 
 Phyllis laughed. "I'm never going to get mar- 
 ried, and I don't believe Janet wants to either." 
 
 Miss Carter did not contradict, but she picked 
 up her newspaper to hide the amused smile that 
 played on her firm red lips. 
 
 Phyllis looked around the dining-room and 
 hummed contentedly. It was a charming room, 
 
 25 
 
26 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 and the fire blazing in the grate added to the 
 warmth and coziness. 
 
 "No,"— Phyllis returned to the subject under 
 discussion — "I'll never marry, but that doesn't 
 mean I don't like boys. I do. I adore them. 
 They are such fun and much more sensible than 
 most girls, but I wouldn 't admit that to any one 
 but you, Auntie Mogs, because, nice as they are, 
 they are fearfully conceited and that would keep 
 me from ever being silly about them." 
 
 "I hope that's not the only reason," Auntie 
 Mogs laughed. "Boys are — but there goes the 
 telephone. Will you answer it, please, dear? 
 Annie is busy." 
 
 Phyllis jumped up from the table and hurried 
 to the hall. 
 
 "Suppose it's Tommy saying they're coming 
 to-day!" she exclaimed. But a minute later her 
 aunt heard her voice drop to its natural tone as 
 she said: 
 
 "Oh, hello, Muriel; this is Phyllis— 
 
 "Why, how nice of you; of course I'll be in. 
 
 "Yes, isn't it too exciting for words ! 
 
 "Oh, I think we'll both be there on Monday. 
 
 "Oh, wonderful; then I'll see you this after- 
 noon, 'by 'till then." 
 
FRIENDS 27 
 
 "It was Muriel," she explained as she returned 
 to the dining-room. "She and some of the girls 
 from school are coming over this afternoon. 
 They want to talk over some class plans and they 
 want my advice. We have class officers this year, 
 you know. Muriel says I've missed an awful lot. 
 It's almost a month now since school started but 
 it can't be helped. 
 
 "Oh, dear, I wonder what class Janet will be in. 
 I hope it won't be too awfully low." She paused, 
 and her pretty brows puckered into a tiny frown. 
 
 "I don't think I'd worry if I were you," her 
 aunt said softly. "Janet may never have been to 
 a school but she is very bright, and I don't think 
 it will be very long before she will be even with 
 you." 
 
 "Oh, but, Auntie Mogs," Phyllis exclaimed, 
 "you didn't think I meant she was stupid. Of 
 course she's bright, only she probably hasn't had 
 the same kind of lessons that I have. Anyway, 
 we will soon know, and even if she goes into the 
 very baby class it won't make any difference to 
 me. Only you see it might to some of the others, ' ' 
 she added reluctantly. 
 
 "That won't bother Janet." Miss Carter 
 smiled at the memory of her independent little 
 
28 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 niece who, for all her quiet ways, was thoroughly- 
 able to take care of herself. 
 
 "The only thing that worries me," she added, 
 smiling, "is whether or not Janet will like the 
 girls." 
 
 Phyllis looked at her In astonishment. 
 
 "But of course she will," she exclaimed. 
 "They are all, or nearly all, awfully nice and — 
 why, Auntie Mogs, she's sure to like them." 
 
 Miss Carter smiled as she left the table. She 
 had given Phyllis a new idea and she did not mean 
 to dwell upon it. 
 
 "Hurry end finish your breakfast, dear," she 
 directed. "I want you to go down town and fin- 
 ish your shopping with me. When Janet comes 
 I don't want to think of anything but her clothes. 
 There will be lots to do if she is to start school on 
 Monday." 
 
 "Of course," Phyllis agreed, drinking her very 
 hot cocoa so fast that it burned her throat. 
 "Won't it be fun, taking Janet to all the shops and 
 having luncheon down town. I know she'll adore 
 it." 
 
 The morning passed quickly, as mornings al- 
 ways do when they are spent in shopping, and 
 
FEIENDS 29 
 
 Phyllis was barely home in time to receive her 
 friends at three o'clock. 
 
 Muriel Grey arrived first. She was a short 
 plump girl of fourteen, with lots of fluffy yellow 
 hair and big china-blue eyes. 
 
 "Oh, Phyllis, I'm so glad to see you. We miss 
 you terribly at school. It isn 't a bit nice without 
 you!" she exclaimed as she kissed Phyllis. 
 
 ""Well, I'll be back Monday," Phyllis replied. 
 "I've missed you too. Sit down and tell me all 
 the news — oh, wait a minute. Here comes El- 
 eanor, and Eosamond is with her." 
 
 The two girls who were just coming up the steps 
 were both dressed in dark blue and their long 
 braids hung down their backs and were both tied 
 with bright green ribbons to match their green 
 tarns. They were not sisters, but they had been 
 friends for so long that it was a joke at school to 
 say that they were beginning to look like each 
 other. 
 
 Phyllis was very fond of them both for they 
 were great fun, and their endless ideas were al- 
 ways a source of wonder to their class. 
 
 "Hello, Phyllis, here we are," Eosamond 
 greeted. "Couldn't get here a minute sooner." 
 
30 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Old Ducky Lucky requested us to remain after 
 class as usual," Eleanor explained. 
 
 It all sounded so natural to Phyllis 's ear that she 
 giggled delightedly. It was fun seeing the girls 
 again, and she realized for the first time that she 
 had missed them unconsciously during the past 
 month. 
 
 "Funny old Ducky Lucky," she laughed. "Is 
 she just as fussy as ever?" 
 
 "Well, if you want to call it fussy, she is," 
 Rosamond groaned. "I can think of a better 
 word, only I won't." 
 
 Ducky Lucky was the disrespectful nickname 
 ,f or Miss Baxter, the mathematics teacher at Miss 
 Harding's school. 
 
 "Sally's coming later," Eleanor said, as they 
 all entered the living room. "She said to tell you 
 not to dare say anything about your twin until she 
 got here. She doesn't want to miss a word. Of 
 course we're all fearfully excited, but to hear 
 Sally talk you would think that she was the one 
 that had made the discovery. ' ' 
 
 "That's just like Sally, "—Phyllis laughed. 
 "I'm crazy to see her. I've only talked to her 
 over the phone since I got back, and you all know 
 
FEIENDS 31 
 
 it's no fun talking to Sally unless you can watch 
 her eyes." 
 
 "Good old Sally," — Eleanor smiled at the mem- 
 ory of a host of funny sayings and doings, and 
 then she looked suddenly grave. "Do you know 
 she is talking about going to boarding school sec- 
 ond term?" she inquired. 
 
 "Sally! Why, we could never in the world get 
 along without her," Phyllis and Eosamond pro- 
 tested. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know," — Muriel spoke for the first 
 time. "I think we could. Sally's nice and all 
 that, but she is such a tomboy." 
 
 The girls turned in surprise to look at her. 
 
 "Of course she is; she wouldn't be Sally if ahe 
 were any different, ' ' Phyllis said, and the two girls 
 nodded in solemn agreement, and then Sally her- 
 self arrived. 
 
 She came iito the room like a whirl of merry 
 autumn leaves. Her hair, never very orderly at 
 best, was towsled by the wind, and her cheeks 
 glowed. She had deep blue eyes that flashed and 
 sparkled behind long black lashes, her hair was 
 black as a raven's wing, and she had a single be- 
 witching dimple in her left cheek. When she 
 
32 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 spoke people generally thought of rippling brooks 
 and deep ringing chimes. 
 
 "Sally Ladd, you love," Phyllis greeted her en- 
 thusiastically. "I thought I was never going to 
 see you. You wretch, why haven't you been over 
 before?" 
 
 "Never mind about me," Sally protested, kiss- 
 ing her warmly. "I want to hear all about Janet. 
 Gracious sakes, it's thrilling enough to get a new 
 baby sister but to find a grown-up twin ! Well, I 
 do think some people have all the luck. Tell us 
 all about her. Is she pretty?" 
 
 Phyllis laughed. She was a little embarrassed. 
 
 "She's my twin, you know," she confessed, 
 "and so — " 
 
 "And so you haven't gumption enough to say 
 that she's a beauty." Sally settled the question 
 with her usual straightforwardness. 
 
 "Is she like you, Phyl?" Eleanor demanded. 
 
 "Not a bit," Phyllis denied. "She's a thou- 
 sand times nicer. She is so quiet when there are 
 people around that it looks as though she were 
 bashful, but she really isn't a bit. She just never 
 says anything unless it's worth saying, and I wish 
 you could see her look at me when I babble on." 
 
FRIENDS 33 
 
 The girls laughed, and Muriel asked : 
 
 "What school has she been to? One up there 
 in the country, I suppose." 
 
 Phyllis bit her lip. What was the matter with 
 Muriel? She was being disagreeable and not at 
 all like the good-natured rolypoly chum of past 
 years. 
 
 "Janet has never been to school," she said 
 quietly, "she has always had a tutor." 
 
 ' ' Oh, Aunt Jane 's poll parrot ! That means she 
 will know twice as much as any of us," Sally 
 cried. 
 
 Aunt Jane 's poll parrot was a mythical bird of 
 wisdom that Sally always appealed to in moments 
 of excitement. Phyllis laughed at hearing the 
 familiar exclamation again. 
 
 "Oh, Sally, that does sound natural, I really 
 feel that I am back at school and that Old Chester 
 and Janet are all a dream!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Well, thank goodness they're not. Look here, 
 Phyl. Do you know, I think I'm a lot more ex- 
 cited about your twin than you are. In the first 
 place she is just the sort of girl we need at 
 school," Sally spoke seriously. "We have been 
 the same lot of girls for, well three years now, 
 
34 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 with only an occasional new one to jog us np, and 
 I think Janet will be a blessing. She '11 be differ- 
 ent, and that's what we need." 
 
 "I hope she is in our class," Eleanor added. 
 
 "Well, of course I do too," Muriel said slowly, 
 "but I don't see anything the matter with us as 
 we are, except that I do feel that it is time we were 
 acting a little older and not so like tomboys." 
 She looked meaningly at Sally. "We have offi- 
 cers this year, and, as Miss Harding says, we will 
 have added responsibilities, and I think we ought 
 to try and be more dignified." 
 
 Sally looked quickly from Phyllis to Eleanor 
 and Eosamond. All three looked surprised and 
 a little angry. Sally laughed contentedly. 
 
 "Hear that poll? we are to be more dignified! 
 Bless us. Muriel, but you are a scream," she 
 teased. 
 
 "I don't see why it's funny to want to be more 
 grown up and serious." Muriel's feelings were 
 hurt, and she looked angrily at Sally. 
 
 "If we acted any differently we'd be affected," 
 Eleanor announced with conviction, "and I for 
 one don't think that would be much of an im- 
 provement." 
 
 "Surely we can hold our place in school with- 
 
FEIENDS 35 
 
 out putting our hair up on top of our heads," — 
 Phyllis laughed good naturedly, "but I think I 
 know what Muriel means," she aded loyally. 
 
 "No, you don't, Phyl." Rosamond had kept 
 quiet up until now but her eyes had danced mis- 
 chievously. "You none of you know, but I'll tell 
 you," — she pauseC dramatically. 
 
 "Muriel has a beau." she announced. The 
 girls all laughed, but she went on quite seriously. 
 "He takes her home from school and he carries 
 her books, so of course she ha s to grow up. Why, 
 even the seniors watch her from the study window 
 in silent jealousy." 
 
 Phyllis looked at Muriel. There was no deny- 
 ing the change now. She sighed. 
 
 "If you are going to talk like children, I'm go- 
 ing home. ' ' Muriel rose with what she hoped was 
 becoming dignity, and in silence the girls watched 
 her put on her hat and coat. Phyllis followed her 
 to the door. 
 
 ' ' Muriel, don 't be silly, ' ' she pleaded. ' ' We 've 
 been such chums, I can't bear to see you sq 
 changed." But Muriel refused to be comforted. 
 
 "It isn't my fault if you can't keep up with 
 me," she said coldly, and Phyllis was too angry 
 to answer. 
 
36 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 She walked upstairs slowly. "I've lost Mur- 
 iel," she said wistfully, but a sudden thought 
 made her run up the rest of the way, two steps 
 at a time. 
 
 "Girls, do you realize that this time to-morrow 
 Janet will actually be here?" she exclaimed joy- 
 fully. 
 
 "Aunt Jane's poll panot, so she will!" said 
 Sally. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 JANET AERIVES 
 
 PHYLLIS opened her eyes on Wednesday 
 morning, and frowned as she heard the 
 rain beating down on the tin roof below 
 her window. 
 
 "It has no business to rain to-day of all days," 
 she said crossly; "but, after all, it doesn't matter, 
 for, rain or shine, Janet is coming." 
 
 She looked through the open door into the room 
 adjoining hers and smiled. Prom her bed she 
 could see the dainty white dressing table and the 
 soft-colored print of Raphael's Madonna hanging 
 in its gold frame beside it. Her own room, as her 
 eyes traveled back to it, was shabby in compari- 
 son, but that only made her smile the more. 
 
 "It's just too heavenly to be true," she whis- 
 pered dreamily. "How silly I've been to worry 
 whether she will like it or not. Of course she 
 wilL and oh, joy of joys, she will be here in less 
 than, let me see, eight hours." She jumped out 
 
 37 
 
38 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 of bed and in a few minutes she was singing in her 
 bath. 
 
 "Phyllis, Phyllis, if you don't stop acting like 
 a crazy person I don't know what I shall do," 
 Miss Carter sighed later in the morning as Phyllis, 
 growing more and more excited as the minutes 
 passed, flew upstairs and down, upsetting every- 
 thing in her effort to keep busy. 
 
 ' ' I know, Aunt Mogs, but I can 't help it. I shall 
 probably die before the train gets in," Phyllis 
 confessed as she sat down at last and tried to 
 concentrate on a book. But the print danced be- 
 fore her eyes, and in not more than a minute she 
 was up again. 
 
 "I knew I'd forgotten something 1" she ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 "What is it now?" her aunt inquired, smiling 
 gently. 
 
 "Flowers. The ones I bought day before yes- 
 terday are all wilted. Oh, I know you told me 
 they would be, but don't say, 'I told you so,' 
 please." 
 
 "No, I won't. I'm almost glad they have 
 wilted; they will give you something to do. 
 Hurry out and get some more, and be sure they 
 are buds this time." 
 
JANET ARRIVES 39 
 
 Phyllis hurried to the nearest florist and then 
 took as long as she possibly could to select the 
 roses. When she reached home she was disgusted 
 to find that she had been gone only twenty min- 
 utes. But the morning passed somehow, and al- 
 though Phyllis insisted upon a ridiculously early 
 start in case the traffic should delay them, they 
 were only a quarter of an hour ahead of train 
 time. 
 
 The huge station was crowded with people, and 
 Phyllis looked at them doubtfully. 
 
 "Auntie Mogs, if Janet ever got lost in this mob 
 we would never find her in all this world," she 
 said nervously. 
 
 "It might be a difficult task," Miss Carter 
 agreed calmly, "but Tom is with her, and it would 
 be very hard to lose Tom even here." 
 
 "Oh, I was forgetting all about Tom." Phyllis 
 laughed with relief. "It would be hard to hide 
 his six feet, wouldn't it? Oh, dear, that sounds 
 as though he were a centipede, but you know what 
 I mean." 
 
 "I do sometimes, my darling," — Miss Carter 
 laughed into Phyllis 's eyes— "but sometimes, I 
 must admit, you race too far ahead of me. Do 
 try and quiet down before Janet comes." 
 
40 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Oh, bat she loves me just the way I am," 
 Phyllis announced airily, "and so does Tommy. 
 Look now, it's only ten minutes." 
 
 She kept her eyes fastened to the blackboard 
 until the announcer called the number of the track 
 and wrote it down in his slow deliberate hand. 
 From that minute to the time when the first porter 
 came up the stairs and through the gate seemed 
 an eternity, but at last Tom's head and shoulders 
 appeared above the crowd. 
 
 "Here they are, Janet," he called, but even 
 that was not necessary, for the twins had found 
 each other, in spite of bobbing hats and sharp- 
 pointed umbrellas, and were in each other's arms. 
 Phyllis, as usual, was doing all the talking, and 
 Janet, a little confused, accepted it as a fitting 
 ending to the amazing dream that had begun that 
 morning when she watched the Old Chester sta- 
 tion fade into the distance. 
 
 After a description of Phyllis, it is useless to 
 give one of Janet, for except for the difference in 
 the expression of their eyes the girls were the 
 image of each other. Even the difference in their 
 dress did not disguise the startling resemblance, 
 and people turned to stare and then to smile as 
 Phyllis 's infectious laughter reached them. 
 
JANET AEEIVES 41 
 
 "Wait here and I'll find a taxi," Tom directed, 
 as they reached the open rotunda that led to the 
 street. 
 
 In a minute they were all comfortably seated 
 in a cab and had joined the procession of slow- 
 moving vehicles that were trying to gain the 
 avenue. 
 
 "To think you are really here," Phyllis sighed, 
 as though the greatest event of her life were over. 
 
 "I'm not a bit sure that I am," — Janet laughed. 
 "I've been begging Tommy to pinch me all the 
 way down in the train. I thought surely I would 
 wake up any minute and hear Martha say, 'It's 
 time to get up, child.' " 
 
 "I didn't do it though, because I thought the 
 other people in the train might not understand," 
 Tom said with amusement. 
 
 "Where is your dog?" Miss Carter asked sud- 
 denly, and Janet's face fell. 
 
 "Grandmother decided I mustn't bring Bom," 
 she answered with a little catch in her voice. 
 
 Her aunt took her hand impulsively and 
 squeezed it. "But, my dear, that is absolutely 
 absurd. You will be miserable without him, es- 
 pecially when everything is new to you. I will 
 write up to Mrs. Page to-night and ask her to 
 
42 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 have some one send him down by express as soon 
 as possible." 
 
 Miss Carter was a gentle little lady, but when 
 she made up her mind to a thing that thing was as 
 good as accomplished. 
 
 "Oh, Auntie Mogs, that's awfully sweet of 
 you," Janet said gratefully. "I know I'll miss 
 him awfully." 
 
 "I never heard of such a thing," Phyllis pro- 
 tested. "We never dreamed you'd come without 
 him. Why, I sent Sir Galahad to the hospital to 
 have him out of the way until Boru got used to 
 his new house." 
 
 "Oh, but you shouldn't have done that," Janet 
 protested. "Poor kitty, he'll feel terribly; 
 abused." 
 
 "Well, he had a little cold and it really was 
 the best place for him, and of course I can go and 
 see him any time. The hospital is only around 
 the corner. Tommy, what are you laughing at?" 
 
 "You two girls talk about your dog and cat 
 just as if they were children. Are you going to 
 make household pets of all my livestock when you 
 come to the ranch next summer?" 
 
 "Of course," Phyllis and Janet answered, 
 laughing. 
 
JANET AERIVES 43 
 
 "Now, don't bother Janet," Miss Carter inter- 
 rupted before Phyllis could say anything more; 
 "she is busy looking at the city, and I know she 
 would rather do that than listen to you. We are 
 on Fifth Avenue now, dear, and that lovely build- 
 ing on your right is Tiffany's." 
 
 Janet looked out of first one window and then 
 the other. It was all very new and exciting to 
 her. She had been to Boston several times, but 
 Boston, beautiful city that it is, is not New York. 
 
 "It's awfully full, isn't it?" she said at last, 
 and Tom laughed heartily. 
 
 "Don't you like it?" Phyllis asked in dismay. 
 
 "Oh, of course I do, but somehow I wish it 
 would stand still for just a minute and give me a 
 chance to look at it. ' ' 
 
 "I'm afraid it will never do that, my dear," 
 Miss Carter laughed. "But you won't find it 
 noisy where we are, and I know you will love the 
 park." 
 
 "Do look," Phyllis pointed towards the west. 
 "It's clearing, I knew it would and here's the 
 park." 
 
 Central Park is a refreshing sight to see after 
 the noisa and confusion of the streets, and to 
 Janet's v /as the soft green of the grass and the 
 
44 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 great trees, resplendent in their autumn dress, was 
 comforting indeed. The sun was just visible be- 
 tween two sullen gray clouds, but it only peeked 
 out for a minute and then as though it were de- 
 pressed by what it saw, it hurried to bed. 
 
 "I don't blame it," Phyllis said, as she watched 
 the last gleam of red fade into the clouds. 
 
 Janet nodded in perfect understanding. It waB 
 not the last time that, without the aid of words, 
 the Page twins were to understand and share each 
 other's thoughts. 
 
 The taxi drew up at the house at last, and An- 
 nie hurried to the side walk to help with bags. 
 She was a servant that Miss Carter had had for 
 many years and she was greatly excited over Jan- 
 et 's arrival. 
 
 Phyllis dashed up the stairs, pulling Janet be- 
 hind her, and instead of waiting even for a min- 
 ute in the living-room she hurried her up the sec- 
 ond flight of stairs and threw open the door of her 
 room. 
 
 "Oooooh!" Janet stood perfectly still and 
 looked and looked. To Phyllis it seemed as 
 though she were never going to speak, then at last 
 she said, "Oh!" again and sank down on the soft 
 bed. 
 
JANET AEEIVES 45 
 
 "Like it?" Phyllis tried to make her voice 
 sound cool, but she did not succeed in keeping the 
 eagerness out of it. 
 
 " It 's fairyland ! ' ' Janet exclaimed. ' ' Oh, Phyl- 
 lis, I never dreamed anything could be half so 
 beautiful." 
 
 Phyllis gave a great sigh of relief. "Thank 
 goodness for that," she said, laughing, "and now 
 come and see the rest of the house." 
 
 Janet followed from one charming room to an- 
 other, but she was speechless until she came to the 
 library — a big brown room, filled with books, low 
 comfy chairs and shaded lamps. 
 
 "Phyllis, it's just too wonderful to be true!" 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 "Well, it's not the Enchanted Kingdom,"— 
 Phyllis laughed — "but we hope it will be a substi- 
 tute." 
 
 For the rest of the day Janet tried to say some 
 of the things that seemed to be bursting her heart. 
 It was not as easy for her to enthuse as it was for 
 Phyllis, but her eyes shone in the firelight as she 
 sat beside Tommy on the sofa and listened to her 
 aunt make plans for the coming week. 
 
 Phyllis need have had no fears, for there was 
 not a moment spared in regret for the four-poster 
 
46 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 bed. How could there be, when such a pink and 
 white nest awaited her f She undressed that night 
 still in a half dream. 
 
 "Janet, have you gone to sleep yet?" Phyllis 's 
 voice called through the dark, long after the house 
 had quieted down for the night. 
 
 Janet sat up and laughed joyously. 
 
 "No," she whispered back, "I'm afraid to." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SCHOOL 
 
 TWO big old-fashioned drawing-rooms 
 thrown into one made the study hall at 
 Miss Harding's school. It was not a bit 
 like an ordinary schoolroom, for a fireplace filled 
 one corner of it, books and pictures covered the 
 walls, and in every window flowers nodded. Only 
 the rows of double desks bespoke study. 
 
 On the Monday after Janet's arrival there was 
 a suppressed current of excitement in the air. At 
 the slightest sound from the hall every eye turned 
 expectantly toward the door. 
 
 Phyllis was sitting in her old seat beside Muriel 
 Grey ; but the old feeling of friendship that had al- 
 ways existed between the two was missing, and it 
 was to Sally Ladd that Phyllis turned for sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 Sally was sitting just behind her, and she took 
 advantage of every glance that Miss Baxter, who 
 was on duty at the desk, cast in any other direc- 
 tion. 
 
 47 
 
48 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Aunt Jane's poll parrot," she whispered ex- 
 citedly, "if she doesn't come soon I shall expire." 
 Phyllis nodded and looked again at the door. 
 
 Janet was with Miss Harding in her office up- 
 stairs. The principal was deciding the grade she 
 had better enter, and to Phyllis the decision was 
 all important. Although she would never have 
 admitted it to any one, the thought of Janet in any 
 class but her own made her miserable. 
 
 As for the rest of the girls, they were all eager 
 and curious to see the new twin, as Sally insisted 
 upon calling Janet. Eleanor and Eosamond had 
 already met her. Sally had been in bed with a 
 cold when Phyllis had called up to ask her to 
 luncheon, and she was still waiting for her first 
 glimpse of her. 
 
 At last the door opened and Janet came into the 
 room. It was an entirely new Janet from the one 
 who had arrived at the Grand Central Station a 
 few days before; that is, to all outward appear- 
 ance. She had on a dark blue serge dress with 
 white collar and cuffs, and her hair was tied 
 loosely in the nape of her neck with a black rib- 
 bon. The curls, that Martha had tried so hard to 
 keep tidy, were blowing about her face, her cheekB 
 
SCHOOL 49 
 
 were pale from nervousness, and her eyes shone 
 brighter than ever. 
 
 Miss Harding nodded to Miss Baxter, and then 
 turned to the girls. 
 
 "I think we have all been more than usually in- 
 terested in Phyllis 's twin sister," she said, smil- 
 ing. "I want to introduce her to you; this is 
 Janet Page. You had better all look at her very 
 hard for I think it is going to be almost impos- 
 sible to tell her from Phyllis unless we are very 
 careful. Perhaps I'll have to ask one of them to 
 wear a pink string tied to her finger and the other 
 a green." 
 
 The girls, including Janet, laughed heartily. 
 Whispers of "she's the very image," "what a 
 dear," and "won't it be funny," ran around the 
 room. 
 
 "I must find you a seat, my dear," Miss Hard- 
 ing continued. "Let me see. It would never do 
 to put you beside Phyllis, for we 'd all be sure then 
 that we were seeing double. I think— Sally, are 
 you alone?" she asked. 
 
 Sally stood up. "Yes, Miss Harding," she re- 
 plied so quickly that the girls laughed. 
 
 "Well, then I think Janet will sit beside you. 
 
50 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 And now you must all get back to work for there 
 are only a few minutes left of study period. But 
 this has been an occasion, hasn 't it ? ' ' Miss Hard- 
 ing smiled, nodded, said a few words in an under- 
 tone to Miss Baxter, and left the room, leaving be- 
 hind her a joy and charm that were always hers 
 to give. 
 
 Janet walked down between the rows of desks 
 to the beckoning Sally, but her eyes were looking 
 into Phyllis 's. As she passed her desk Phyllis 
 caught her hand and whispered, "What class?" 
 
 "Yours," Janet whispered back. She did not 
 think it necessary to add that Miss Harding had 
 found her ready for the grade higher but that she 
 had chosen to stay with Phyllis. 
 
 Sally almost hugged her as she took her place 
 beside her, and under cover of supplying her with 
 books and showing her the lessons, she managed to 
 talk until the bell rang. There was a ten-minute 
 recess before lessons began. The girls made the 
 most of it and crowded around Janet's desk. 
 
 "Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was there ever 
 such luck?" Sally demanded. "I think I hypno- 
 tized Miss Harding, I really do. I thought so 
 hard about your sitting beside me that she simply 
 had to let you." 
 
SCHOOL 51 
 
 "Did you want me to sit beside you?" Janet 
 asked with genuine surprise. 
 
 "But of course I did," — Sally was equally sur- 
 prised. 
 
 "It was rank favoritism," laughed Eleanor. 
 "I thought too, good and hard. Why I even 
 pointed to the forlorn and empty chair beside me 
 and it didn't do a bit of good." 
 
 "Introduce us, introduce us," several voices de- 
 manded, and Phyllis was kept busy. Even the 
 seniors came and laughed and envied. It was 
 quite a reception. 
 
 "What a lucky girl you are," one of them, a 
 tall girl with copper-colored hair named Madge 
 Cannan, exclaimed, "I've wanted a twin all my life 
 and I never found one." 
 
 "Poor Madge, I'll be your twin," some one of- 
 fered. 
 
 1 ' Can 't do it, ' ' Phyllis laughed. ' ' There 's only 
 one twin in the world and I've got her." 
 
 "I'm sorry," — Janet looked at the older girl 
 and spoke quite seriously. "It would be very 
 nice to have two yous." 
 
 Madge flushed, and the girls laughed. 
 
 "Of all the precious things to say," she ex- 
 claimed. "Phyllis, I can't speak for the rest, 
 
52 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 but as far as I am concerned your nose is com- 
 pletely ont of joint. ' ' 
 
 Just then the bell rang, and the day's lessons 
 began. 
 
 The next recess was at eleven-thirty, when hot 
 chocolate and crackers were served. School did 
 not let out until one-thirty, and Miss Harding 
 thought the girls needed something to eat before 
 that time. 
 
 "Now, Sally, leave Phyllis 's twin alone," Eosa- 
 mond insisted, as she handed Janet her cup and 
 prepared to sit down beside her. "YouVe had 
 her all day long and now it's some one else's 
 turn." 
 
 Janet looked from one girl to the other in mys- 
 tified amazement. She had never been made a 
 fuss over except by Phyllis in all her life and she 
 couldn't understand it. For one terrible moment 
 she thought they were making fun of her, but a 
 glance at their smiling faces reassured her on that 
 point but came no nearer helping her solve their 
 reason. 
 
 "Thank you," she said quietly. It was fortu- 
 nate that the girls did not expect her to do much 
 talking and were content with her shy answers. 
 
She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in all 
 her life and she couldn't understand it 
 
 Page 52 
 
SCHOOL 55 
 
 Perhaps the interest in her brown eyes made up 
 for her lack in that direction. 
 
 ' ' Do yon play basket ball ? ' ' Eleanor was asking. 
 
 "No." Janet shook her head. 
 
 "Well, then I'll teach you. We play this year, 
 and you simply must love it. ' ' 
 
 "Do you like to swim?" Eosamond demanded, 
 and again Janet shook her head. 
 
 What must these girls think of her! Why, she 
 couldn't do anything. 
 
 "Skate?" some one else asked. 
 
 "No, I don't." Janet looked imploringly at 
 Phyllis, but for once she was looking at some one 
 else. Only Sally noticed the look and she gave no 
 sign — then — 
 
 ' ' What can you do ? " It was Muriel who spoke 
 and in spite of the angry eyes that were turned to- 
 ward her she managed to smile, but it wasn't a 
 pretty smile. 
 
 For a minute Janet's face flamed to a deep red, 
 then as suddenly her cheeks grew very white. 
 There was a pathetic silence. She knew that it 
 would end soon, but before it ended she must an- 
 swer or Phyllis would be ashamed of her. 
 
 "I'm afraid I can't play any games," she said 
 
56 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 slowly; "you see, I never went with girls and I 
 never went to school." 
 
 "Did you go with boys then?" Muriel still 
 smiled. She felt quite sure that the answer would 
 be "no." 
 
 "Why, yes, I did," Janet confessed, "and, you 
 see, they liked to play ball and to go sailing or 
 canoeing," — she thought of Peter Gibbs, and the 
 thought of him made the color come back to her 
 cheeks — natural color this time. 
 
 "We coasted a lot in the winter and then of 
 course there was always fishing," she finished 
 lamely. How could she explain the hundred and 
 one things that went to make up her days in Old 
 Chester? 
 
 "Oh, well, I suppose you will find it very 
 strange here." It was a chastened Muriel that 
 spoke. 
 
 "Now, my Aunt Jane's poll parrot, I ask you, 
 why under the sun should she?" Sally broke the 
 silence that followed angrily. 
 
 Eleanor laughed at Janet. 
 
 "Have you been properly introduced to Sally's 
 Aunt Jane's poll parrot?" she asked to change 
 the subject. 
 
 "He's a very wise bird, and we all consult him 
 
SCHOOL 57 
 
 when our own reason fails," — Kosamond took up 
 the explanation. 
 
 "Sally consults him oftener than any of the rest 
 of us, because you see, Sally's reason fails her 
 oftener. Excuse my breaking into the conversa- 
 tion, but no one has had the manners to introduce / 
 me. My name is Daphne Hillis, but ho one ever 
 calls me anything but Taffy on account of my 
 hair." It was a long speech, but the speaker took 
 twice as long as was necessary to say it ; her slow 
 drawl held a hint of laughter, and her voice 
 sounded warm and furry. 
 
 Janet looked at her and laughed without mean- 
 ing to. 
 
 "How do you do," she said. "I'm awfully 
 glad to know about the poll parrot," she added 
 with a smile. 
 
 Phyllis, who had been talking, very much 
 against her will, to one of the teachers, joined 
 them and nodded to Taffy. Janet noticed that she 
 looked surprised and pleased. 
 
 Daphne smiled lazily. 
 
 "I like your twin, Phyllis," she drawled and 
 then left them. 
 
 "Now isn't that just like Taffy?" Sally de- 
 manded. 
 
58 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Not a bit," Eleanor protested. "Taffy likes 
 very few people. ' ' 
 
 "Well, you know what I mean," Sally insisted. 
 "It's like her to say a thing like that and then 
 leave." 
 
 It was not until Janet and Phyllis were alone in 
 the living-room that Phyllis explained. 
 
 "Daphne Hillis is the most popular girl in 
 school," she said, "but I think she has fewer 
 friends than any other girl, and that's what makes 
 it strange." 
 
 "But if she's so popular?" Janet queried. 
 
 "Oh, she could have dozens of friends, but she 
 doesn't seem to want them. She's queer and dif- 
 ferent somehow; none of us understand her, but 
 we all love her." 
 
 Janet looked out of the window and smiled 
 softly to herself. If being different from other 
 girls meant being like Daphne, why, being differ- 
 ent was not so bad after all. 
 
 She didn't even bother to turn her head when 
 Phyllis exclaimed angrily, 
 
 "I think I hate Muriel Grey." 
 
T 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 TOM'B IASX DAT 
 
 * *f | ^ OMMT, I call it just plain mean, for yon 
 to go away." Phyllis was perched on 
 the arm of her brother's chair, and she 
 gave him a little shake to emphasize her words. 
 
 Tom, by a deft twist of a wrist and a long 
 reach with his other arm, laid her very gently on 
 the floor at his feet and held her so that she could 
 not move. 
 
 "Mustn't call your big brother names," he 
 chided. "See what happens to little girls when 
 they do?" 
 
 ' ' Oh, Tommy, let me up, you wretch ! ' ' Phyllis 
 struggled, but she was quite powerless. 
 
 "Janet, come and help me," she called. "Tom 
 is killing me." 
 
 "What good do you think Janet can do?" Tom 
 inquired calmly, as Janet could be heard running 
 down the stairs. 
 
 "I don't know," Phyllis confessed, "but she 
 
 69 
 
60 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 will do something. Oh, Janet, save me! Look 
 what Tommy is doing to me. ' ' 
 
 Janet stood in the doorway and laughed, then 
 she made a dive for her brother, but instead of 
 trying to use strength she tickled him. 
 
 "Here, stop; that's no fair," he protested, but 
 Janet only renewed her efforts, and Phyllis, tak- 
 ing advantage of his helplessness, jumped up. 
 After that ft was only a matter of seconds before 
 Tommy was on the sofa completely muffled by 
 cushions. 
 
 "Pax, pax, I'll be good," he panted. "What 
 do you want me to do?" 
 
 "Say you are never going home," Phyllis com- 
 manded. 
 
 "I'm never going home," Tom repeated meekly. 
 
 They let him up, and he tried to smooth his hair 
 and straighten his tie. 
 
 "Thank goodness that's settled!" Phyllis ex- 
 claimed. "And now what do you propose doing 
 to amuse us?" 
 
 "It's Saturday, you know," Janet reminded 
 him. 
 
 "Auntie Mogs, I appeal to you," Tom said, as 
 Miss Carter entered the room. "Is this fair? 
 
TOM'S LAST DAY 61 
 
 These two Comanche Indians hold me helpless on 
 the sofa, extract a promise that I will never go 
 home, and now they want me to amuse them be- 
 sides." 
 
 "All day," Phyllis said. 
 
 "All day long," echoed Janet. 
 
 Miss Carter laughed. "I'm afraid I can't help 
 you out, Tom; you brought it upon yourself, but 
 of course you know that a promise made in self-de- 
 fense is not binding." 
 
 "Isn't it, though?" Phyllis demanded, and 
 Janet started to tickle again. 
 
 "Say it is binding," she commanded. 
 
 "Oh, anything, anything, only stop!" Tom 
 begged. "I am at your mercy, what do you want 
 me to do?" 
 
 "Well, we might take a walk in the park this 
 morning, ' ' Phyllis suggested. ' ' Janet hasn 't seen 
 my pet lion yet, and I'm crazy to show him to 
 her." 
 
 "And we have to go to the station this afternoon 
 to meet Boru," Janet added happily. Miss Car- 
 ter, true to her promise, had written to Mrs. Page, 
 with the result that Janet's dog was expected that 
 day. 
 
62 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 ' 'And after that — ' ' Phyllis cupped her chin in 
 her hand and appeared to give the matter serious 
 consideration. 
 
 "Don't you think after that you might rest 
 awhile?" Auntie Mogs inquired. 
 
 "Saturday comes but onoe a year; I mean, 
 week," Phyllis chanted, "and it's foolish to rest." 
 
 "I have an idea," Tom said suddenly; "if you 
 promise not to tickle me in the station when I go 
 to buy my ticket and behave yourselves generally, 
 I will give you a surprise party. No, I won't tell 
 you what it's to be, that's my affair, but I promise 
 it will be something nice." 
 
 "Something to do?" Phyllis inquired. 
 
 Tom nodded. 
 
 "Will you promise?" 
 
 1 ' ShaU we ? " Phyllis looked at Janet. 
 
 "Yes, let's, I love surprises," Janet agreed. 
 
 "We promise," they said together. 
 
 "Well, then, go get your things on, and we will 
 go over and interview this lion friend of Phyl- 
 lis y s." Tom sighed his relief when the girls had 
 gone. 
 
 "We'll miss you, Tom," Miss Carter said 
 gently; "must you really go to-morrow?" 
 
 "Indeed, I must. I should have gone weeks 
 
TOM'S LAST DAT 63 
 
 ago," Tom replied, "but I couldn't leave those 
 two youngsters. Tell you what it is, Auntie Mogs, 
 it isn't every man that finds two such sisters. I 
 wish you were all going back with me," he added 
 wistfully. 
 
 "Dear Tom, the summer isn't very far away." 
 Miss Carter patted his shoulder affectionately. 
 
 ' ' Then you '11 really come ? ' ' 
 
 ' ' Of course we will. The girls are making plans 
 already. The only thing that worries me is that 
 Mrs. Page may want Janet with her this sum- 
 mer." 
 
 "Oh, I fixed all that," Tom assured her. 
 "Grandmother knows you are coming to me, but 
 I think she expects you all at Old Chester for 
 Christmas." 
 
 "Oh, that would be delightful," Miss Carter 
 said warmly. "A change would do the girls so 
 much good. It's just the time when school gets 
 a little monotonous and then, too, if Janet has a 
 visit to look forward to it may keep her from 
 growing homesick." 
 
 "Homesick! "Why you haven't seen any symp- 
 toms of that, have you?" Tom demanded, sitting 
 up straight and looking at his aunt. 
 
 Miss Carter laughed at his concern. 
 
64 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Nothing very alarming," she said, "but I 
 don 't think she quite understands school yet. She 
 doesn't seem to want to talk about it, for one 
 thing." 
 
 "But Phyllis says the girls all like her?" 
 
 "I am sure they do, but perhaps she doesn't 
 realize it quite yet. Girls are very strange some- 
 times, Tom, but I can see Phyllis is worried." 
 
 Tom had only time to nod, for the girls came 
 back with their hats and coats on and the subject 
 had to be dropped. 
 
 "It's a glorious day," Phyllis enthused as they 
 entered the park and headed toward the zoo. "I 
 wonder if Akbar will remember me." 
 
 "Oh, undoubtedly," Tom teased. "Lione are 
 noted for their wonderful memories." 
 
 "Have you known him long?" Janet inquired 
 mischievously. 
 
 "I have. Akbar and I have been friends for 
 over two years, and you can laugh if you want to 
 but he does know me," Phyllis retorted. 
 
 And indeed it almost seemed as though he did. 
 They entered the lion house to find a number of 
 people around the cage, for Akbar was a mighty 
 beast, and people were apt to linger, fascinated, 
 before him. 
 
TOM'S LAST DAY 65 
 
 This morning he was lying with his huge paws 
 over his nose, the picture of disgust. 
 
 "Oh, my beauty, isn't he a love?" Phyllis de- 
 manded, forgetting that her voice carried far in 
 its eagerness. 
 
 The people around the cage laughed and turned 
 to look at her, but only Tom and Janet felt embar- 
 rassed. Phyllis was gazing at Akbar. 
 
 "Come over here and talk to me," she urged. 
 "I want you to stand up and roar." 
 
 Akbar opened one sleepy eye and then the other, 
 lifted his splendid head and finally after a little 
 more coaxing stood up and stretched. 
 
 "¥ou see he does remember me," Phyllis said 
 triumphantly. ' ' I knew he would. ' ' 
 
 Tom and Janet looked at each other and winked 
 solemnly. 
 
 Phyllis refused to leave until, with the aid of 
 the keeper, who seemed to be an old friend of hers, 
 she had made Akbar roar for a large piece of 
 meat. 
 
 "That's the way he says please, bless his dar- 
 ling heart," she explained, and the keeper nodded 
 assent. 
 
 "The little lady has a. great way with him, sir," 
 he said to Tom. "It do seem as though he knows 
 
66 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 her, for he'll get up and come to the front of his 
 cage when he won't for another living soul, but I 
 do be always saying that lions be rare intelligent 
 beasts." 
 
 "My sentiments exactly," Tom agreed affably, 
 but he hurried the girls out into the sunshine. 
 
 "I didn't want him to tell me that Phyllis ought 
 to have been brought up as a lion tamer," — he 
 laughed — "and I could see that he was going to 
 with the slightest encouragement." 
 
 Phyllis was silent most of the way home, Akbar 
 always filled her with odd hopes, too vague to be 
 put into words but strong enough to make her rest- 
 less. He had the same effect on her that some of 
 the statues in the museum had. 
 
 After luncheon they went down to meet the train 
 that carried at least one very excited passenger. 
 All the way from Old Chester Boru had done his 
 doggish best to tell all the brakemen in the train 
 that he was going to his mistress at last. 
 
 He very nearly ate Janet up when he spied her 
 down the length of the baggage platform. As for 
 Janet, she sat down on the floor and hugged him 
 until Tom bribed her to get up by offering to buy 
 Boru some ice cream. 
 It was a merry party that came back to Auntie 
 
TOM'S LAST DAY 67 
 
 Mogs's in a taxicab and Boru, in his excitement, 
 insisted upon licking even the chauffeur's ear. 
 
 Janet sat with him in her lap for the rest of the 
 happy afternoon. 
 
 Tom's surprise party was a great success. At 
 a little after six, he told the girls to be ready to go 
 out, and Auntie Mogs suggested that they wear 
 their prettiest frocks. 
 
 "Of course you can do as you like," she said 
 with a twinkle in her eye, "but I am going to wear 
 my black lace." 
 
 "Auntie Mogs, you know what the surprise is," 
 Phyllis accused. "Tell us, please do." 
 
 But Auntie Mogs went off to her own room, 
 singing softly to herself. 
 
 The girls dressed as quickly as they could, and 
 discussed the possibilities. 
 
 "I think we are going to dinner at one of those 
 huge hotels," Janet said. "I know it will be 
 thrilling." 
 
 "Yes, I think that's part of it too," Phyllis 
 agreed. 
 
 "Only part?" Janet inquired. 
 
 "Hum, well, maybe that will be all." Phyllis 
 did not wish to voice the thought that was making 
 her smile. 
 
68 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "And quite enough too," Janet replied. 
 
 But dinner at a hotel was not all. A theater 
 followed, and Janet, who had never seen a play 
 before, was so excited and thrilled that people 
 around her who had come expecting to be bored 
 went home chuckling over the memory of her shin- 
 ing eyes. 
 
 They reached home tired and sleepy but very 
 happy. 
 
 "It would have been a perfect day if I hadn't 
 kept thinking that Tommy was going away to-mor- 
 row," Phyllis sighed and yawned. "Why do we 
 always have to have some little thing to spoil per- 
 fect fun, I wonder. ' ' 
 
 "There is a reason," Janet answered dreamily. 
 "It has something to do with roses and thorns, but 
 I'm too sleepy to remember, only I do wish, 
 Tommy, you wouldn't go." 
 
 "To bed with you," Tom laughed, as he kissed 
 them both, ' ' and happy dreams. ' ' 
 
 They were asleep in a very short time, but curi- 
 ously enough they did not dream of dancing and 
 music as they had expected, for Phyllis dreamed 
 of Akbar and Janet of Boru. 
 
CHAPTEE Vn 
 
 daphne's advice 
 
 TOM left for the West the next day, and 
 Janet and Phyllis returned from the sta- 
 tion with Auntie Mogs. They were very 
 quiet for the rest of the evening, for they were 
 busy with their own thoughts. 
 
 Janet faced another week of school and she 
 dreaded it. If she could only stay at home with 
 Phyllis and Auntie Mogs and Boru, instead of hav- 
 ing to face all those girls again. She had tried at 
 first to find her place among them, but the old 
 dread of being "different" made her shy and self- 
 conscious ; even with Daphne before her as an ex- 
 ample of the charms of originality she had failed, 
 failed utterly. 
 
 It was partly the girls' fault. They had made 
 a tremendous fuss about her the first few days and 
 then, as the novelty had worn off, they had set- 
 tled back into their own ways, and Janet had not 
 understood the change. Her shyness made her 
 
 69 
 
70 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 morbid, and by the end of the first week she had 
 made up her mind that she had failed in some way, 
 and she construed the girls' thoughtless indiffer- 
 ence to mean dislike. 
 
 It is no wonder that she dreaded the thought of 
 returning; it meant hard work to keep a stiff up- 
 per lip and to smile in spite of her heartache. 
 Only one thought was clear, and that was that 
 Phyllis must not know. 
 
 But Phyllis did know. There was something 
 wrong, she felt sure, but she could not understand 
 what it was. She had been delighted with the 
 way her friends had welcomed her twin, but when 
 Janet had seemed to refuse their offers of friend- 
 ship she could only conclude that she did not like 
 them. But Phyllis would not accept any such ex- 
 planation meekly. Janet was not happy, there- 
 fore something must be done, and she decided to 
 talk the matter over with Sally. 
 
 She chose the noon recess, when Janet remained 
 in the study hall to finish a composition she was 
 writing. 
 
 Sally listened gravely. 
 
 "What shall I do about it?" Phyllis finished 
 dolefully. 
 
 "Well, something," Sally replied decidedly. 
 
DAPHNE'S ADVICE 71 
 
 "I don't know just what, but something's wrong, 
 and we will have to ferret it out. She's strange, 
 of course, and she doesn't understand us very- 
 well. I've seen her look at me as if she thought I 
 were crazy sometimes. She acts as though she 
 didn't like us, but I think she does really. Time's 
 the thing, of course, but it won't do to wait until 
 the girls begin to resent her standoffishness. " 
 
 "Oh, Sally, don't," pleaded Phyllis. "Hello, 
 Taffy," she added, as Daphne passed slowly be- 
 hind her chair. 
 
 " 'Lo," Daphne drawled. 
 
 In another part of the room another group of 
 girls were discussing Janet. 
 
 "She's really not a bit like Phyllis," Eleanor 
 said with a frown. "I can't make her out." 
 
 "Neither can any one else," replied Eosa- 
 mond. "She's queer." 
 
 "I've never been able to get anything but yes 
 or no out of her," another girl complained. "I 
 call her just plain slow. ' ' 
 
 "She's always fearfully polite, " some one else 
 objected. "I never heard her use a single slang 
 word." 
 
 "Oh, well, Sally will cure her of that," — ^Rosa- 
 mond laughed. 
 
72 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 Eleanor sighed. It was so easy to be goodna- 
 tured that she couldn't understand anybody taking 
 the trouble to sulk. 
 
 "We must be nice to her anyway," she said de- 
 cidedly. "She's Phyllis 's twin, and she's in our 
 class." 
 
 "Suppose so," the others agreed, as the bell 
 rang. 
 
 When Sally and Phyllis returned to the study- 
 hall, Janet was still at her desk. She looked up 
 and smiled as Phyllis spoke to her, but she went 
 on with her work. 
 
 Sally watched her critically and sighed. She 
 was awfully sorry for her but she was angry too. 
 She wanted to shake her, to make her laugh or cry 
 or do something besides just sitting there with 
 that forced smile and her brown eyes ready to 
 flood with tears any minute. 
 
 "I wish she would bawl and have it over with," 
 she thought to herself. 
 
 Janet lifted the lid of her desk to put away her 
 papers, and Sally lifted hers at the same time and 
 bent her head so that she could speak without be- 
 ing seen from the desk. 
 
 "Phyllis is coming over to my house this after- 
 noon," she whispered; "will you come too?" 
 
DAPHNE'S ADVICE 73 
 
 "Oh, thanks, I'd like to," Janet replied eagerly. 
 
 Sally sighed with relief. So far so good. Once 
 in her own home, with a box of candy between 
 them, they could surely straighten everything out. 
 
 As for Janet, she had hardly accepted the invi- 
 tation before she regretted it. Sally only wanted 
 her because she knew Phyllis would not come with- 
 out her, or so she argued. 
 
 "I won't be a bother to them," she declared ve- 
 hemently. "I won't." 
 
 So when Sally and Phyllis hurried to the study 
 hall after being detained by Miss Baxter at the 
 close of school, Janet was nowhere to be found. 
 
 "But she said she'd come," Sally exclaimed an- 
 grily. "Oh, she's left a note on my desk, listen — 
 
 "Dear Sally— " (she read) 
 
 "I am sorry that I won't be able to come to your 
 house with Phyllis this afternoon, but I have just 
 remembered something that I must hurry home 
 to do. 
 
 "Thank you very much for bothering to ask me. 
 
 "Janet." 
 
 "My Aunt Jane's poll parrot!" was all poor 
 Sally could say. 
 
74 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "But she didn't have anything to do at home," 
 Phyllis protested. "Oh, Sally, what is the matter 
 with her, and what shall I do ? " 
 
 "You'll come home with me first of all," Sally 
 replied with determination ; "then later in the aft- 
 ernoon we will go over to your house, as though 
 nothing had happened, and perhaps we can per- 
 suade her to come out for a walk." 
 
 "All right, if you think- that's best, "—Phyllis 
 agreed to the plan, dismally. "But I warn you I 
 won't be very good fun." 
 
 "If she would only come to her senses," Sally 
 exclaimed. 
 
 In the meantime, Janet had hurried away from 
 school. She did not want Phyllis to see her for, 
 with that lump in her throat, she knew an explana- 
 tion would mean tears, and Janet hated tears. 
 
 Her steps lagged before she had gone very far, 
 and she walked on slowly, deep in an unhappy rev- 
 ery, too miserable to notice the quick footsteps 
 that were rapidly gaining on her. 
 
 "Hello, Phyllis's twin ! " The soft, half -laugh- 
 ing drawl was unmistakable, and Janet turned 
 quickly, to see Daphne beside her. 
 
DAPHNE'S ADVICE 75 
 
 "Hello," she answered slowly. No need to 
 force a smile for her; she wouldn't be deceived 
 by it. 
 
 Daphne did not appear to notice anything amiss. 
 She looked lazily down at the wet and muddy side- 
 walks and shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 "Park's better than this," she suggested. 
 "Let's cut over to it." 
 
 They walked in silence until they gained the 
 path that ran around the reservoir. 
 
 "Looks wintry, doesn't it?" she asked idly. 
 They stopped and looked over the iron railing into 
 the dull green water. 
 
 It was a somber autumn day. The sky was 
 banked with dark gray clouds, and a high wind 
 swept through the trees, tearing away the last 
 leaves and whirling them to the ground. 
 
 ' ' I suppose so, ' ' Janet replied indifferently. ' ' I 
 like it," she added listlessly. 
 
 "Of course, but it's silly of you," Daphne 
 agreed with her odd little laugh. "Awfully 
 silly." 
 
 ' ' What do you mean ? ' ' Janet looked up at her 
 suddenly. 
 
 "It's silly to like dreary things, even days, and 
 
76 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 it's most awfully silly to be dreary yourself. Not 
 fair, you know, when every body's doing their best 
 to be nice. ' ' 
 
 "But they 're not, " Janet said quickly. ' ' They 
 were the first day and then — " 
 
 Daphne turned slowly and looked at her. For 
 once her drooping lids fully uncovered the sea 
 green eyes that they were usually at such pains to 
 hide. A strand of her taffy-colored hair blew 
 across her face, and she tucked it carefully under 
 her hat before she answered. 
 
 "So that 's it, is it ? " There was a hint of some- 
 thing besides laughter in her velvety voice. "I 
 didn't understand; what happened?" 
 
 "I don't know," Janet answered dully; "per- 
 haps I did something they didn't like or perhaps 
 they just stopped bothering with me; I don't 
 know." 
 
 "But I know," — Daphne laughed. "You ex- 
 pected too much. When the girls stopped making 
 a fuss about you, you thought they stopped liking 
 you, so here you are going off in corners and look- 
 ing sadder than a wet chicken, and you think you 
 are doing the best you can, eh?" 
 
 "Go on," Janet said quietly. 
 
DAPHNE'S ADVICE 77 
 
 "Ever have a pet rabbit?" Daphne inquired 
 with mild interest. 
 
 "Yes, but what — " Janet stammered. 
 
 "Bemember the first day you had him, the fuss 
 you made about him and then how you got sort of 
 tired of him?" 
 
 "Why, yes, I suppose — " 
 
 Daphne laughed and yawned, showing all her 
 pretty white teeth. 
 
 "Little simpleton, you're the rabbit," she said. 
 "The girls still like you, but they're used to you 
 and they rather expect you to do something now. 
 ft 's your turn to do tricks, like the bunny. ' ' 
 
 "And I — " Janet began. 
 
 "Oh, you sit in the corner and sulk and say, 
 'Yes, thank you, and no, thank you,' and the girls 
 are discouraged. Can't blame them, you know. 
 You're Phyllis 's sister, and they have a right to 
 expect more from you." She said it all in her 
 soft furry voice, and it was impossible to resent it. 
 Janet watched her fasten her coat collar up closer 
 about her neck, but she could not speak. 
 
 Daphne apparently did not expect her to. 
 
 "It's your turn now," she repeated and with- 
 out another word turned and walked away. 
 
78 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 Janet did not follow her except with her eyes. 
 She seemed rivetted to the spot on which she 
 stood. When Daphne was out of sight she turned 
 once more to the reservoir, but this time she saw 
 more than the clouds reflected in the dull water. 
 She saw hex own mistake. 
 
H 
 
 CHAPTER Vin 
 
 A CHANGE IN JANET 
 
 ' ' *f "f ELLO, you two, where are you bound 
 for?" Eleanor joined Sally and 
 Phyllis as they were on their way to 
 Sally's house and took them each by an arm. 
 
 "Home," Sally replied, "home to muse with 
 wonder and sorrow over the sickening cruelty of 
 Ducky Lucky." 
 
 "I know," Eleanor nodded sympathetically; 
 "isn't to-morrow's math, simply terrible. I'm 
 not going to try to do it." 
 
 "Well, I am," Sally announced emphatically. 
 "Catch me staying in for an hour and listening to 
 a long and weary lecture on my many sins; no 
 thanks. If the worse comes to the worst, I will 
 make Daddy do it for me." 
 
 "Where's Rosey-posey?" inquired Phyllis. 
 "You're not going to walk all the way home to 
 your house, are you?" Eleanor lived across the 
 city on Riverside Drive. 
 
 79 
 
80 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Walk, well, I guess not, but I had to make a 
 start to get Eosey away from the piano. She's 
 playing while Madge teaches some of the other 
 seniors how to dance the latest step. I wish she 'd 
 hurry, I hate loosing my special bus." She 
 glanced behind her and then stopped. "Here she 
 comes now." 
 
 Eosamond joined them. She was out of breath 
 but she was laughing. 
 
 "Oh, my hat!" she exclaimed. "Muriel will 
 kill me yet. I met her in the cloakroom and we 
 went out together. I thought she looked worried, 
 but I didn't catch on until she began making ex- 
 cuses to get rid of me, then I looked ahead and 
 down the street, busily tying his shoe, HE was 
 waiting." 
 
 "Well, I hope you had the manners to leave at 
 once ? ' ' — Eleanor laughed. ' ' Or did you wait and 
 make her miserable ? ' ' 
 
 Eosamond winked one eye mischievously. 
 
 "I behaved with perfect decorum," she replied. 
 "I said I really must run for my bus as the con- 
 ductor was a cousin of my sister-in-law's aunt and 
 he let me ride for nothing. I said it loud too, so 
 that He could hear, and Muriel was wild." 
 
 "Oh, Eosey, how could you, you wretch; poor 
 
A CHANGE IN JANET 81 
 
 Muriel !" Phyllis tried not to laugh, but gave up 
 and joined the rest. 
 
 Rosamond turned them down one of the side 
 streets abruptly. 
 
 "Where are you going?" Eleanor demanded. 
 "I want to go home ; I'm hungry." 
 
 "Now don't be absurd," Rosamond admon- 
 ished. "You can eat any old time, but it isn't 
 often that you can see what I am going to show 
 you." 
 
 "Oh, now what are you up to?" Eleanor pro- 
 tested, but Rosamond only pointed to the corner 
 of the next avenue and told them to watch. 
 
 1 ' Aunt Jane 's poll parrot, Muriel ! ' ' Sally was 
 the first to see that the girl and boy approaching 
 them was their classmate and her friend. They 
 would soon meet. 
 
 "I'll giggle, I know I will," Eleanor warned 
 them. "Rosey, it's all your fault. Let's turn 
 around. ' ' 
 
 "Never," Rosamond protested. "Just walk 
 like little ladies and bow politely when they pass," 
 she said with a ridiculous primness that was ex- 
 actly like the art teacher at school. 
 
 They walked ; there was nothing else to do ; and 
 Muriel and the boy beside her came toward them, 
 
82 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 deep in conversation. It was noticeable that Mur- 
 iel was doing most of the talking. 
 
 When they were even with them, Eosamond 
 bowed formally and in a high and very affected 
 voice she exclaimed, 
 
 "Why, Muriel, how do you do?" 
 
 Sally called a careless hello, and Eleanor, too 
 full of laughter to dare speech, only nodded. It 
 was Phyllis that gave a little gasp of astonishment 
 that was repeated in turn by the boy. He recov- 
 ered himself and pulled off his cap in response to 
 her quick smile. 
 
 They were hardly out of earshot before the girls 
 turned to her. 
 
 "Phyllis Page, you've known him all the time, 
 you wretch," Eosamond accused. 
 
 "I have not," Phyllis denied. "I was never so 
 surprised in my life." 
 
 "What's his name?" Sally demanded, but Phyl- 
 lis shook her head. 
 
 "I don't know," she protested, "honestly I 
 don't. I have only seen him once before and then 
 I wasn't really introduced, his first name, or 
 rather his nickname, is Chuck, and that's all I 
 know, except," — she added provokingly, "that he 
 doesn't believe in brownies." And that was all 
 
A CHANGE IN JANET 83 
 
 she would say on the subject, though the girls did 
 their best to make her explain. 
 
 "Well, we have to go or Eleanor will faint from 
 hunger," Eosamond said regretfully as they 
 reached the avenue again and waited for the bus. 
 "But I'll find out some more about this, if I have 
 to ask Muriel, ' ' she added laughingly. 
 
 Sally and Phyllis hurried home. Now that the 
 girls had left them, they forgot everything but 
 Janet and their plans. They were late in reach- 
 ing Sally's home, but they found a dainty luncheon 
 waiting for them and Sally's mother was delighted 
 to see Phyllis. 
 
 "But where's the twin?" she demanded. "I 
 do want to see her so much. Sally says she is 
 the very image of you and a darling too." 
 
 Phyllis looked uncomfortable and tried to smile. 
 It was Sally who explained. 
 
 "She was coming, but at the last minute she had 
 to go home. Phyl and I are going over for her a 
 little later and, darling mother of mine, we will 
 bring her over here to call on you if you promise 
 us hot cinnamon toast and cake to go with tea." 
 
 Mrs. Ladd laughed and pinched Sally's cheek. 
 She was a tall and strikingly handsome woman 
 with flashing black eyes and the jolliest laugh in 
 
84 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 the world. All Sally 's friends loved her almost as 
 much as they loved Sally, and she was always in 
 demand with Auntie Mogs to act as chaperone to 
 the various skating and theater parties. 
 
 "You are getting very grown up, ' ' she answered 
 now, her eyes twinkling. "Last year it was hot 
 chocolate you wanted and the year before that ice 
 cream and now it's tea." 
 
 "And we really hate it," Phyllis laughed. 
 "We'd lots rather have chocolate." 
 
 "Oh, well, give us chocolate then," Sally ex- 
 claimed. ' ' Only be sure there 's plenty of toast. ' ' 
 
 "For Phyllis 's twin, I suppose," Mrs. Ladd 
 laughed. "Very well, I'll remember," she prom- 
 ised, as she left them to go out. 
 
 The girls ate hurriedly and then talked up in 
 Sally's room until they thought it was time to go 
 back. 
 
 "What shall we do if she won't come?" Sally 
 said seriously. 
 
 "Oh, there's no fear of that," Phyllis replied 
 hastily. ' ' She '11 come if we are there to make her 
 and she will love your mother, I know she will. I 
 do hope she hasn't gone out anywhere with 
 Auntie Mogs." 
 
A CHANGE IN JANET 85 
 
 "Let's hurry," Sally said, the idea making her 
 feel the need for immediate action. "If she's out 
 we can wait for her. ' ' 
 
 But Janet was not out. She was sitting in the 
 library window-seat with Boru in her lap. She 
 saw the girls coming up the street and she knocked 
 on the window to them and waved. 
 
 "I hoped you'd bring Sally back with you," she 
 called as they ran up the steps. "Auntie Mogs 
 is out and Boru is too sleepy to be very good com- 
 pany. I almost went over to get Sir Galahad, but 
 I thought they might know I wasn't you and refuse 
 to give him to me." 
 
 Sally had never heard Janet say so much at one 
 time, and she looked at her with a new interest. 
 Perhaps she was going to be human after all and 
 without their aid. She devoutly hoped so. 
 
 "We came back especially to get you," she re- 
 plied as she patted Boru. "Mother wants you to 
 come to tea with her and incidentally us. ' ' 
 
 "Oh, that will be bully," Janet said, and Phyllis 
 had hard work to believe her ears. 
 
 "What are you reading?" she inquired as a 
 book dropped from Janet's lap. 
 
 Janet picked it up and laughed. 
 
86 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Elsie Dinsmore," she answered, blushing a lit- 
 tle. "I found it behind a shelf in the corner and I 
 have been laughing myself sick over it. ' ' 
 
 "Laughing?" Phyllis was more surprised than 
 ever. As she remembered the Elsie Books they 
 were more calculated to make you weep than 
 laugh. 
 
 ' ' Yes, Elsie was always going off into corners to 
 cry. I've just finished the part where her father 
 made her play a hymn on Sunday and she had to 
 be carried fainting to her room and I don't know 
 just why but I began to think I was like Elsie and, 
 well, I think I'm cured," she ended in confusion. 
 
 "Oh, Janet, of all the silly notions!" Phyllis 
 exclaimed. "Since when have you been going off 
 into corners to weep ? ' ' 
 
 "Or fainted at hearing music on Sunday?" 
 added Sally. 
 
 "Well, I haven't exactly," Janet admitted, "but 
 I have done a lot of silly sulking, but honestly I 
 didn't realize how silly I was being." 
 
 "You never sulked in your whole entire life, 
 Janet Page," Phyllis protested warmly. "I 
 won't have you saying such a thing." 
 
 "Of course not," Sally agreed, no less warmly; 
 "do chuck that silly old book out of the window 
 
A CHANGE IN JANET 87 
 
 and come out for a walk. Bring Bora, too; 
 mother will adore him. ' ' 
 
 Janet went upstairs, still laughing, and Sally 
 and Phyllis were left staring at each other. 
 
 ''What has come over her?" Sally inquired. 
 
 "I don't know and I don't much care," Phyllis 
 answered happily. 
 
 Janet was humming as she put on her berry cap 
 and pulled it over at a rakish angle. She had 
 spent a very profitable afternoon laughing at her- 
 self. At first the laughter had been a little too 
 grim, but before long the grimness had disap- 
 peared and only a good-natured ridicule was left. 
 It is good to be able to laugh at yourself once in a 
 while, but Janet was glad that the time was over. 
 
 She had made up her mind not to tell them about 
 Daphne, that was to be her secret. 
 
S' 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 TWINS INDEED 
 
 *<^ > ^NOW!" Every girl looked up as Janet 
 spoke, and a ripple of laughter ran 
 around the room. 
 
 "Janet, did you say that?" — Miss Baxter 
 looked over her thick lens glasses and focused her 
 pale blue eyes on Phyllis 's twin. An expectant 
 silence fell over the room. 
 
 "Yes, Miss Baxter," — Janet rose to answer. 
 
 Miss Baxter tapped the desk with her long and 
 callous forefinger. 
 
 "Phyllis, I am quite aware that you are answer- 
 ing, and I might add that this is not the place to 
 practice silly jokes." 
 
 A sudden, though quickly suppressed, snort 
 came from behind Sally's desk, and even Muriel, 
 sitting beside Phyllis, giggled. 
 
 "Janet, will you please stand up and speak for 
 yourself?" Miss Baxter peered a little over the 
 desk, and her face set in hard, uncompromising 
 lines. 
 
 88 
 
TWINS INDEED 89 
 
 A month had passed since the last chapter, and 
 Janet had found a very particular place in the 
 school for herself. Once on the right road it had 
 been only a matter of a few days before the girls 
 accepted her, and only a matter of weeks before 
 she was one of the leading members of her class. 
 Her quiet humor and downright frankness made 
 her a welcome addition to the school, as Sally had 
 prophesied. 
 
 She and Phyllis had discovered how easy it was 
 to pass for each other, and further to confuse peo- 
 ple they began to dress alike. Miss Gwynne, the 
 history teacher, had made a mistake in their iden- 
 tity in class one day and had laughed about it later 
 to the rest of the teachers. Only Miss Baxter re- 
 fused to find the story amusing. She had called it 
 impertinence, and then and there made up her 
 mind that the same trick should never be played on 
 her. 
 
 This morning her near-sightedness had confused 
 her, but she was certain that they were trying to 
 trick her and she would have none of it. 
 
 "But I am Janet, and I am standing up." 
 Janet had caught some of Daphne's drawl and 
 used it when she remembered to. 
 
 Miss Baxter smiled coldly but triumphantly. 
 
90 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Very well, if you persist in being childish, then 
 I will ask Phyllis to stand also. 
 
 Phyllis rose, and the girls waited breathlessly. 
 
 "Come to my desk, please," Miss Baxter con- 
 tinued. 
 
 They obeyed her, Phyllis slipping her watch 
 with its tell-tale initials into her pocket as she 
 walked beside Janet to the front of the room and 
 up to the desk that was raised on a small platform. 
 
 Miss Baxter surveyed them with grim deter- 
 mination as she might have a knotty problem in 
 mathematics. She would not give heed to the 
 small voice within her that counseled care. Miss 
 Baxter never gave heed to anything but her own 
 faultless judgment. 
 
 "You," she said, pointing to Phyllis, "are 
 Janet and you," — she frowned at Janet — "you 
 are Phyllis." 
 
 The twins did not reply. They stood before her 
 in respectful silence. 
 
 "Now, Janet," — not being contradicted, Miss 
 Baxter continued with even more certainty — "you, 
 I believe, spoke." She looked at Phyllis. 
 
 "I was the one that spoke," Janet said quietly. 
 ' ' I said ' snow. ' It is snowing, you know. ' ' 
 
TWINS INDEED 91 
 
 "We are not discussing the weather." Miss 
 Baxter tried to silence the room with the weight 
 of her scorn but she failed. 
 
 "Very well then, Phillis, you may report to me 
 after school. ' ' She prided herself that the inter- 
 view had been most successful. 
 
 "Where, Miss Baxter?" Phyllis inquired. 
 
 Miss Baxter gasped. 
 
 "Janet, is it necessary for you to interrupt?" 
 
 "I wasn't interrupting," Janet protested. 
 
 Miss Baxter looked from one to the other of 
 them and realized very slowly and very painfully 
 that she had made a mistake. 
 
 "Go back to your seats," she said scornfully. 
 "The matter is too trivial to discuss." 
 
 The twins did not smile; they merely walked 
 backed to their seats and went on studying. 
 
 The bell rang not many minutes later. 
 
 "My Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was there ever 
 such a scream. My sides ache." Sally hugged 
 Janet in the excess of her delight. 
 
 "Look out for rocks ahead," Eleanor warned. 
 "Old Ducky Lucky doesn't like to be laughed at." 
 
 "Bless you," Phyllis protested; "we didn't 
 laugh at her, did we, Jan?" 
 
92 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Certainly not. I'd never do anything so dis- 
 respectful," Janet replied. "We merely an- 
 swered when we were spoken to." 
 
 "While Ducky Lucky thought you were answer- 
 ing for each other," — Sally chuckled. ."Oh, why 
 didn't somebody give me a twin. I never realized 
 the thrilling possibilities until now." 
 
 "I wish you'd put on your watch again, Phyl," 
 Eosamond said. "I feel so foolish when I look 
 at you sometimes. You're not really alike but I 
 never can remember which is which. ' ' 
 
 Phyllis slipped her watch on, and all the girls 
 sighed with relief. 
 
 Daphne joined the group. 
 
 "I offer my congratulations," she drawled. 
 "Sort of a dual role you were playing. Old 
 Ducky Lucky was more ducky lucky-ish than ever. 
 I could hear her even from where I sit. ' ' 
 
 "Just why do you call her Ducky Lucky?" 
 Janet inquired. " I 've always wondered. ' ' 
 
 The girls turned to Sally. 
 
 "It's a long time ago," she began, "since I 
 christened her, but it had something to do with the 
 way she said, 'Tut, tut'; her teeth, you know, 
 aren't always tight and the effect sounded just 
 like ducky lucky, and so I called her that. It's 
 
TWINS INDEED 93 
 
 years ago, and of course they fit better now, but 
 the name still sticks." 
 
 "Oh, Sally," — Janet was convulsed — "she did 
 make a noise just like that to-day, only I didn't 
 realize." 
 
 "But I did,"— Phyllis laughed— "and it was all 
 I could do to keep from giggling. ' ' 
 
 "Thank goodness math, is the last period; per- 
 haps she'll have time to forget," Janet said just 
 as the bell rang. 
 
 "Don't count on it," Eosamond called over her 
 shoulder as she went back to her desk. "Ducky 
 Lucky never forgets. ' ' 
 
 But mathematics class was uneventful. Miss 
 Baxter ignored the twins, much to their delight, 
 for they did not have to answer a single question. 
 
 ' ' Sally, you 're coming home with us this after- 
 noon, aren't you?" Janet called as the bell rang. 
 
 "Yes; can you wait a half a shake?" Sally re- 
 plied. "I have to take a paper over to Miss Sim- 
 mons, but I'll meet you on the steps." 
 
 "Snow!" — Phyllis laughed as she and Janet 
 waited for her a few minutes later — "what a lot 
 you were responsible for to-day. Jan, whatever 
 possessed you to say that out loud?" 
 
 Janet shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know; 
 
94 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 I suppose I was just thinking out loud. I was aw- 
 fully thrilled when I saw it anyway." 
 
 "Well, I may be your twin," Phyllis mused, 
 "but I don't pretend to understand you. We did 
 have fun with Ducky Lucky, though, didn't we?" 
 
 "Yes, but she could have gotten beautifully even 
 with us if she had wanted to," — Janet laughed. 
 
 "How?" Phyllis inquired, but Sally's appear- 
 ance cut short the conversation before Janet had 
 a chance to explain. 
 
 They walked home through the park, and Phyllis 
 insisted upon going in to see Akbar. As they en- 
 tered the lion house, a small body thrust itself 
 upon her and shouted gleefully : 
 
 "I've found you at last! I knew I would. 
 Where have you been all this awful long time? 
 I've looked for you every single day." 
 
 It was Donald, and Phyllis was delighted to see 
 him. She introduced him to Sally and Janet, and 
 then waited to hear what he would say. 
 
 Donald looked at her twin and then at her. 
 
 "Vers two of you," he said gravely. 
 
 ' ' Oh, you darling ! ' ' Phyllis exclaimed. ' ' Don 't 
 look so disturbed. We're only twins." 
 
 Donald did not reply, he was busy looking at 
 them again. 
 
"Vers two of you," he said gravely 
 
 Page 94 
 
TWINS INDEED 97 
 
 "Do you think you could tell us apart?" Janet 
 inquired. 
 
 He nodded solemnly. 
 
 "I fink I could," he replied, "because, you see, 
 her eyes are like ve brownie's — all soft and queer" 
 — he smiled engagingly at Phyllis — "but yours" 
 — he turned to Janet — "have all kinds of funny lit- 
 tle gold fings that make vem all shiny. But I 
 couldn't tell you apart if you shut your eyes, I 
 don't fink." 
 
 "Oh, Donald, you're a great boy!" Phyllis 
 laughed. 
 
 "I think he's wonderful," Sally exclaimed, 
 "and the most amazing part of it is, he's right, 
 Janet has little golden flecks in the brown part of 
 her eye and you haven't. What a way to tell you 
 apart, but I promise not to tell." 
 
 "Well, not Ducky Lucky anyway," laughed 
 Janet. 
 
 Donald's nurse came to look for him, and bore 
 him off in spite of his protests. 
 
 Phyllis described her last meeting with him and 
 confessed to Sally that it had been at his house 
 that she had met Muriel's Chuck. 
 
 "Oh, by the way," Sally suddenly remembered, 
 "Muriel is going to give a party. Quite an affair, 
 
98 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 I understand, and we are all going to be invited. 
 I suppose that Mr. Chuck will be there and a lot 
 of other boys ; have you heard anything about it ? ' ' 
 
 Phyllis nodded; she and Muriel had forgotten 
 their quarrel and were seemingly on good terms 
 again, although Sally had taken the place in Phyl- 
 lis 's heart that Muriel had occupied the year be- 
 fore. With Janet, they made up what the rest of 
 the girls called the jolly trio. Daphne occasion- 
 ally joined them, much to Janet's delight, and 
 many were the afternoons that they had spent to- 
 gether in the snuggery, a room that the twins had 
 fitted up to suit their particular tastes at the top 
 of the house. 
 
 They were on their way up to it to-day when 
 Miss Carter heard them and came out of the draw- 
 iug-room. 
 
 ' ' Late for luncheon, ' ' she chided. ' ' You will all 
 be very ill if you are not careful. Were you kept 
 in?" she questioned, laughing. 
 
 "No, Auntie Mogs. Phyl just decided she had 
 to see Akbar," Janet explained. 
 
 "Well, I don't think that was very nice to you, 
 Sally dear," Miss Carter protested. "Do hurry 
 and eat your luncheon. I told Annie to keep it hot 
 for you, and, oh, by the way, there are some letters 
 
TWINS INDEED 99 
 
 for you on the hall table." She returned to the 
 drawing-room where she was listening to the head 
 of a new charity who was trying to secure her 
 promise of support. 
 
 Janet dashed to the table and came back with 
 the letters. 
 
 "Both alike and they're from town," she said 
 as she opened hers. 
 
 "Muriel's invitations!" Phyllis exclaimed. 
 "And, oh, Sally, do listen — it's to be a masquer- 
 ade." 
 
 "What luck, oh, oh, why haven't I got a twin!" 
 Sally wailed. 
 
 The discussion of costumes occupied the rest of 
 the afternoon, and they must have reached a 
 happy conclusion for Sally went home singing, 
 and every time Phyllis and Janet looked at each 
 other that evening they burst out laughing. 
 
CHAPTEB X 
 
 THE SCREENED WINDOW 
 
 THE telephone rang insistently, and Phyl- 
 lis, stretched at ease on the sofa in the 
 snuggery, looked appealingly at Janet. 
 
 "Darling twin of my heart, if yon love me go 
 and answer that. I'm so comfy," she pleaded. 
 
 Janet got up slowly from her big chair and 
 looked reproachfully at her sister. 
 
 "Lazy, you're not a bit more comfy than I am, 
 but I will go just to prove that I have the sweeter 
 disposition." 
 
 "Bless you, I never doubted it," Phyllis called 
 after her as she ran down the steps. Then she 
 snuggled deeper into the cushions that were piled 
 high about her, selected a large chocolate from the 
 box beside her and closed her eyes. 
 
 It was the day before Muriel's party, and it was 
 snowing hard. The girls had returned wet and 
 cold from school and decided upon spending the 
 
 rest of the day indoors. Janet, as usual, had 
 
 100 
 
THE SCREENED WINDOW 101 
 
 found a book to read, but Phyllis, after playing 
 with Galahad and Boru, had insisted upon inter- 
 rupting, until in sheer desperation she had given it 
 up and they had discussed the coming masquerade. 
 
 "It was Sally," Janet announced, returning 
 from the 'phone. 
 
 "And what did she want?" Phyllis inquired. 
 "You know, Jan, we were awfully silly not to 
 bring Sally home with us." 
 
 "I won't tell you what she said unless you get 
 up and hand me those chocolates," Janet replied 
 as she settled herself once more in the big tufted 
 chair. 
 
 Phyllis looked at the box of candy and then at 
 the distance between it and Janet. It was too far 
 to reach. 
 
 "Oh, Jan, I'm so tired," she protested. 
 
 ' ' All right. ' ' Janet opened her book and began 
 to read. 
 
 "Was it anything important?" Phyllis inquired, 
 with pretended indifference. 
 
 "Fearfully," — Janet did not look up from her 
 book as she replied. 
 
 Phyllis appeared to consider the matter. 
 
 "Tell me what kind you want and I'll throw it to 
 you," she offered by way of compromise. 
 
102 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 Janet only went on reading. 
 
 "Oh, well, if I must, I must!" Curiosity won, 
 and Phyllis got up slowly, the candy box in her 
 hand. ' ' Only never again allude to dispositions, ' ' 
 she finished as she gave it to Janet. 
 
 "Thank you, dear," Janet said sweetly as she 
 rooted in the bottom of the box for a nut. 
 
 "Well?" Phyllis demanded, "what did Sally 
 want?" 
 
 Janet finished her candy and selected another 
 before she answered. 
 
 "Sally called up to tell me that our costumes 
 would be ready to try on at four o 'clock to-day and 
 that she would call for us in Daphne's car." 
 
 "Oh, how nice Taffy can be when she wants to." 
 Phyllis was now wide awake. "Did Sally say 
 when the not-to-be-hurried Miss Pringle intended 
 to finish our things ? ' ' 
 
 ' ' To-morrow, not later than twelve o 'clock. " 
 
 "Do you think she really will have them done 
 then?" 
 
 "I should hope so; she's had them for ages," 
 Janet replied. "Now, Phil, do keep still and let 
 me read in peace until the girls come, I have a 
 corking story and I'm just in the middle of the 
 most thrilling part." 
 
THE SCREENED WINDOW 103 
 
 "What is it?" Phyllis inquired. 
 
 " 'The White Company,' by Conan Doyle," 
 Janet replied. 
 
 "Oh, I've read that and it is a thriller. I won't 
 bother yon any more. ' ' She turned her attentions 
 to the candy box, and then because she was now too 
 wide awake to dream lazily on the lounge again 
 she went over to the window and looked out. 
 
 The snow had stopped and a cold sun was strug- 
 gling through a mass of heavy clouds. She gazed 
 below her idly. A man was on the roof of the 
 house across the yard. The roof covered an ex- 
 tension that was only one story high but ran out 
 from the house almost to the end of the yard, and 
 brought it quite near to the roof of the kitchen of 
 Miss Carter's house. 
 
 Phyllis watched the man with lazy interest. He 
 was the caretaker, she knew, for the family was 
 down South. He seemed to be fitting a heavy wire 
 screen into one of the smaller windows immedi- 
 ately above the extension. 
 
 "Now, I wonder what he's doing that for?" she 
 said aloud to herself. "Looks as though they 
 were fixing that room for a baby. ' ' 
 
 Miss Carter came in at this minute and put an 
 end to her curiosity. 
 
104 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Oh, Auntie Mogs, Sally just called up to say- 
 that she and Daphne would come by for us in 
 Daphne's car, and we could all go to Miss Prin- 
 gle's and try on our costumes !" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Why, how very nice of Daphne," — Miss Car- 
 ter smiled. "I was worrying about your having 
 to go out on this miserable day." 
 
 Phyllis laughed and put her arm around her 
 aunt. 
 
 "You see there are no two ways about it!" she 
 cried. "We should have a car of our own and 
 then you would never have to worry about our 
 feet." 
 
 "Oh, Phyllis, you're a great one," — her aunt 
 laughed. "Well, I'm afraid I must keep on wor- 
 rying for we certainly can't have a car." 
 
 ' ' Glad of it. ' ' Janet, for all her apparent inter- 
 est for her book, had been listening with one ear 
 to the conversation. 
 
 "Why, Jan," — Phyllis looked at her in amaze- 
 ment — "wouldn't you like a car?" 
 
 "No, I hate them ; silly smelly things — give me a 
 horse every time." 
 
 ' ' Old fashioned, ' ' scoffed Phyllis. " I '11 take a 
 high-powered racer every time." 
 
 Miss Carter listened and smiled her amusement. 
 
THE SCREENED WINDOW 105 
 
 "And you will both have to take a street car," — 
 she laughed. "Poor abused children! Hurry 
 along with you, and get ready or you will keep 
 Daphne waiting." 
 
 "There they are now!" Phyllis exclaimed, as 
 the front door bell pealed merrily. "That's Sal- 
 ly's ring; I know it." 
 
 Janet threw down her book, and they went to 
 their rooms in search of hats. 
 
 A few minutes later they were all in the com- 
 fortable limousine, speeding along uptown. 
 
 "It was awfully nice of you to stop for us, 
 Taffy," Phyllis said as soon as the greetings were 
 over. "This is certainly a whole lot better than 
 walking." 
 
 "Yes, isn't it?" Daphne agreed. "I was 
 tickled when mother said I could have it. It isn't 
 often that I can, you know." 
 
 Sally had been looking out of the window, and 
 suddenly she leaned forward and knocked on the 
 glass and waved. 
 
 "Look!" she exclaimed. "There's little Don- 
 ald; isn't he the cutest youngster?" 
 
 Phyllis waved too, then she looked puzzled. 
 
 "Funny," she said under her breath. 
 
 "What is?" Janet demanded. 
 
106 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Oh, nothing. " 
 
 Daphne looked back at Donald through the win- 
 dow above her head. 
 
 "Isn't that Donald Keith?" she asked, and 
 Phyllis nodded. 
 
 "It is Donald Francis MacFarlan Keith," — she 
 laughed, "or so he told me with much pardonable 
 pride. He was most sympathetic when I had to 
 confess to only two names. ' ' 
 
 "His father's a friend of my uncle's," Daphne 
 explained. "It's little Don's cousin, Chuck Vin- 
 cent, that Muriel walks home with every day. 
 I've played tennis with him, and he's really rathe 1 ? 
 fun for a boy," she drawled. 
 
 "For a boy?" laughed Janet. "I think boys 
 are a whole lot more fun than girls." 
 
 "I don't," Daphne replied airily. "I think 
 they are all very stuck up. Chuck is; you'll see 
 that to-morrow night. ' ' 
 
 "Wonder if Miss Pringle will really have our 
 things ready for us, ' ' Sally said. ' ' She is always 
 so uncertain. If she doesn't, I think I will die of 
 disappointment. " 
 
 "You tell her she has to, Daphne," Janet sug- 
 gested. "You can always put on such airs, and 
 they never fail to impress." 
 
THE SCREENED WINDOW 107 
 
 "Do my best." Daphne accepted Janet's com- 
 pliment calmly; she knew it was true. Her drawl 
 did seem to impress people, though she could never 
 imagine why. 
 
 The car stopped before a dilapidated, brown- 
 stone house, and the girls got out and hurried up 
 the warn steps. Miss Pringle herself let them in. 
 She was a tall, angular woman, with wisps of un- 
 tidy hair blowing about her face, and a mouth out 
 of which she could always produce a pin at a mo- 
 ment's notice. 
 
 "Oh, young ladies," she said distractedly. 
 "Why have you come ? ' ' 
 
 "We want to try on our dominoes," Sally said, 
 rather taken aback. 
 
 "Dominoes? Oh, yes, yes, to be sure. Step 
 this way." 
 
 She led them into a large room, filled with the 
 smell of the kerosene stove and strewn with pat- 
 terns and pieces of silks. It was a cluttered-up 
 place. 
 
 "Here they are !" Phyllis exclaimed, going over 
 to the table and picking up a dress. "Aren't they 
 ducks?" 
 
 "Don't touch, please," Miss Pringle said nerv- 
 ously ; ' ' they 're only pinned. ' ' 
 
108 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 She picked up one of the costumes and beckoned 
 to Sally. 
 
 "This is yours, Miss Ladd. Slip it over your 
 head." 
 
 The others crowded around and admired. 
 
 "Oh, Sally, it's a love !" Phyllis enthused. 
 
 Miss Pringle shook her head and sighed. 
 
 "I can't understand why you are having them 
 all alike," she complained. "Now, if you had 
 only consulted me I could have designed such a 
 pretty one for each of you ; but, no, you must have 
 your own way. ' ' 
 
 "But we want them alike for a special reason," 
 Sally explained. "It's to be a regular masquer- 
 ade, you know, and we thought that four costumes 
 just alike would confuse people," — she stopped, 
 discouraged by the lack of Miss Pringle 's atten- 
 tion. 
 
 The costume was a domino made of strips of col- 
 ored silks with a big hood lined with pale yellow. 
 Each stripe ended in a point, and a tiny bell hung 
 from each one. 
 
 The girls tried them on, one at a time, and Miss 
 Pringle pinned and basted and lengthened and 
 shortened. She had made costumes all her life 
 
THE SCREENED WINDOW 109 
 
 and no play at Miss Harding's seemed complete 
 until she had been consulted. 
 
 "What are the other girls going to wear?" 
 Daphne asked indifferently. 
 
 "Miss Grey will have a dear little shepherdess 
 dress, and those two that are always together, 
 I've mislaid their names in my mind — " 
 
 Sally laughed and Phyllis said quickly, 
 
 "Rosamond Dodd and Eleanor Schuyler." 
 
 "Yes, those are the ones. Well, they are going 
 as Jack and Jill, and, oh, dearie me, I forgot. I 
 know I've done my best for them all, and I must 
 say they had more faith in my judgment than you 
 young ladies had." An audible sniff ended the 
 sentence. 
 
 "Oh, now, Miss Pringle," Sally protested, "we 
 have unlimited faith in you. Didn't I prove it 
 last year by letting you make a fairy out of me 
 when I wanted to be a witch? This is a special 
 joke we are having, that's why we want to be all 
 alike." 
 
 "A very poor one, if you ask me," — another 
 sniff. "I can understand the Miss Pages, being 
 as how they are twins, but — " 
 
 The girls were ready to leave, and Daphne in- 
 
110 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 terrupted her politely, but in her most approved 
 drawl : 
 
 "We must all have our dominoes before noon, 
 you know," she said. "As we are all going to 
 dress at one house and go together, please be sure 
 they are delivered on time." 
 
 "Certainly, Miss Hillis. I think I can be de- 
 pended upon to keep my promises." Miss Prin- 
 gle spoke huffily, but Daphne only smiled her slow- 
 est smile and nodded graciously as they went down 
 the steps. 
 
 Phyllis hesitated before she entered the waiting 
 car. A man whom she recognized as the caretaker 
 of the house just back of theirs ran up the steps 
 and disappeared in the wake of Miss Pringle's 
 trailing wrapper. 
 
 "Wonder how he got here so quickly," Phyllis 
 said to herself, and then dismissed the subject, at 
 an impatient "hurry up" from Sally. 
 
A 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE MASQUERADE 
 
 " 4 UNT JANE'S poll parrot, what a 
 mob!" 
 
 The four girls, each in a domino ex- 
 actly like the others, stood at the door of the 
 Greys' immense drawing-room and surveyed the 
 scene before them. It was, of course, Sally who 
 spoke. 
 
 Phyllis laughed softly. "If you go about say- 
 ing that, Sally, it won't be hard to know who you 
 are," she warned. 
 
 "You'll have to forget Aunt Jane and her poll 
 parrot for to-night," a voice soft and tinkling 
 drawled. 
 
 This time Janet laughed. "How about your 
 drawl, Taffy?" she inquired. 
 
 "Oh, dear, this will never do," Phyllis pro- 
 tested. "We will all have to keep as quiet as 
 possible and only answer 'yes' and 'no.' " 
 
 Sally's blue eyes opened wide behind her mask 
 
 of black satin. 
 
 111 
 
112 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Oh, but that won't be any fun at all! " she 
 cried. 
 
 "We might mumble everything we want to say," 
 suggested Janet; "and if we all do it, it will be 
 more confusing than ever." 
 
 "Good idea, 'How do you do this evening; isn't 
 the room beautiful?' " Daphne mumbled in a mon- 
 otone. 
 
 "Oh, Taffy," Janet laughed, "even your very 
 best friend wouldn't know you." 
 
 "Well, then let's go in and pay our respects to 
 Muriel ; she and her mother are over there by the 
 other door," Sally suggested, and led the way. 
 
 The room through which they walked was in- 
 deed beautiful. Ivory white woodwork made a 
 fitting frame for the pale gold brocade that hung 
 on the walls. Ferns and great bowls of roses 
 filled every corner, and the perfume of the flowers 
 scented the warm air of the room. Two crystal 
 chandeliers blazed in all the glory of their rainbow 
 colors and reflected their brilliance in the polished 
 floor. 
 
 Groups of girls and boys chattered and laughed 
 and tried to guess the identity of each other. 
 Every hero and heroine in history was repre- 
 
THE MASQUERADE 113 
 
 sented, and they nodded and bowed to dainty 
 Mother Goose folk. 
 
 The simplicity of the four dominoes made a 
 strange spot of color as they walked together to- 
 wards their hostesses. They were all abont the 
 same height and build, they marched in step, and 
 their bells jingled in unison. 
 
 "How do you do," they mumbled as they shook 
 hands. 
 
 Muriel Grey, dressed, as Miss Pringle had sug- 
 gested, in the dainty pinks and blues of a Dresden 
 shepherdess, stood beside her mother. She was 
 not masked as her guests were, and her puzzled 
 surprise was plain to be seen. 
 
 "Why, who can you be?" she exclaimed. "I 
 have guessed every girl and boy so far, but I 
 haven't the slightest idea who you are. Please 
 say something," she begged. 
 
 "You look very pretty to-night." 
 
 "What a lot of people there are." 
 
 "We are all so glad to be here." 
 
 "Think hard and you will surely guess." 
 
 All four answers were mumbled at once and 
 poor Muriel was more confused than ever. 
 
 "I think your costumes are delightful and it is 
 
114 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 great fun to have four unknown guests," Mrs. 
 Grey said. "I shall be watching you all anxiously 
 when the gong rings to unmask. Don't run away 
 like Cinderella when you hear it, will you?" she 
 added, smiling. 
 
 "No, indeed," a mumble assured her. "We 
 will all come and say 'how do you do' to you then 
 in our own voices." 
 
 Another group, this time of boys, came up, and 
 the four hurried away. 
 
 It was not long before the guests had all as- 
 sembled and the music began. 
 
 "Let's go over there and watch," Phyllis sug- 
 gested, pointing to a bench under a palm in the 
 corner. "Then we can see whom we know." 
 
 "There's John Steers, dressed as a donkey," — 
 Sally pointed to a tall, ungainly boy, who pre- 
 sented a droll aspect as he leaned up against the 
 wall beside the musicians' platform. His thin 
 body accentuated by the large donkey's head gave 
 him a top-heavy expression, and the forefeet that 
 covered his long arms hung dejectedly at his sides. 
 
 "He doesn't look as though he were having a 
 very good time," Janet laughed. "Why doesn't 
 he go and talk to some one ? ' ' 
 
 "Not John; he perfectly hates and despises 
 
THE MASQUERADE 115 
 
 parties, but his mother makes him go to them, and 
 he always stands over by the musicians and mopes 
 just as he is doing now," Phyllis explained. 
 
 "There are Eleanor and Rosamond over there 
 talking to the two boys in armor," — Daphne 
 pointed. 
 
 "Of course, I'd have known them even if old 
 Pringle had not told us their costumes," — 'Sally 
 chuckled. "Oh, do look at that boy dressed as 
 Robin Hood; he is bow legged," — she went off 
 into convulsions of laughter, and as the others 
 looked at the very fat and uncomfortable lad 
 across the room they joined her. They had hardly 
 time to compose their features before three boys 
 came up to them and bowed. 
 
 One, the tallest of the lot, wore a monk's garb 
 of rough brown and the big hood completely cov- 
 ered his head; his face was hidden by a ghostly 
 white mask. The one next to him was dressed ex- 
 actly like the Mother Goose pictures of Little Jack 
 Horner and he carried a paper pie under one arm. 
 The last of the trio was the most amusing; his 
 face was blacked and a wig of kinky black hair 
 stood out in dozens of tiny braids, each tied with 
 a different colored string. He wore a red and 
 white calico dress that was just short enough to 
 
116 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 show his big, clumsy boots. He made a very deep 
 bow before Sally and said in a high shrill voice. 
 
 "May I have this dance, please, ma'am?" 
 
 "With pleasure," — Sally for a wonder did not 
 forget to mumble. She did not have the slightest 
 idea who her partner was, but then that is the fun 
 of a masquerade. 
 
 ' 'And will you dance with me?" the monk asked 
 in a very solemn tone, bowing to Janet. 
 
 Janet got up and then sat down again very sud- 
 denly; there was an awkward pause, and then she 
 managed to say: 
 
 "But I don't know how to dance." Gone was 
 the mumble, gone was every thought except the 
 misery of the minute. 
 
 But the monk, instead of being disappointed, 
 gave a mighty sigh of relief. 
 
 "Thank goodness for that," he said heartily. 
 "I hate to dance, myself, so let's go and see if we 
 can't find some lemonade. This hood is so hot I 
 need something to cool me off." 
 
 Janet did not wait to be coaxed. She took the 
 arm he offered her, and they soon disappeared 
 into the crowd. 
 
 Little Jack Horner shifted from one foot to the 
 
THE MASQUEBADE 117 
 
 other in his embarrassment at finding himself be- 
 tween two girls. At last he said, 
 
 "I want to dance with one of you but blest if 
 I can tell which, you are as alike as two peas. I 
 wish you would stop that mumbling and let me 
 hear your voices. I bet I know you both." 
 
 Phyllis and Daphne looked at each other and 
 laughed. Jack Horner had forgotten, in his 
 eagerness to find out who they were, to disguise 
 his own voice, and they both recognized him. 
 
 "No, Jerry Dodd, we won't stop mumbling; 
 you'll just have to choose as best you can," 
 Daphne said. 
 
 Jerry looked at her curiously; there was some- 
 thing familiar in that tmkly laugh. 
 
 "Then I'll choose you," he said promptly. 
 "You know me, so I must know you, and before 
 we have danced half way round the room I bet 
 I can tell you your name." 
 
 "Bet you can't," Daphne teased as she got up. 
 
 Phyllis watched them whirl away and smiled to 
 herself. Daphne was a beautiful dancer, and if 
 Jerry had even a grain of sense he would recog- 
 nize her light step, for he had danced with her 
 many times at dancing school. She watched them 
 
118 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 circle the room once and waited for them to pass 
 her again. As they neared her she expected to 
 hear Daphne's familiar drawl, but instead she 
 heard Jerry's pleading voice say, 
 
 "Ah, go on, give a fellow a chance." 
 
 The rest of the sentence was lost for a voice 
 close beside her asked, 
 
 "Did yon find the lemonade?" 
 
 She turned quickly to see a knight in shining 
 armor. A golden wig fell to his shoulders, and 
 a blazing cross covered the front of his tunic. He 
 wore a small black mask that did not hide his 
 smiling mouth. He carried a great sword with 
 both hands. 
 
 "No, Sir Galahad, I didn't," Phyllis answered. 
 
 "Where's your monk, Friar Tuck; I thought he 
 was with you?" Sir Galahad inquired. 
 
 "Did you?" Phyllis asked sweetly. She was 
 not mumbling, but her voice was not at all natural 
 and she had no fear of the knight's recognizing her 
 for she felt quite sure she did not know him. 
 
 "But I don't understand. When I last saw 
 you, Howard was going to take you into the 
 library and teach you to dance and John was go- 
 ing with you." Sir Galahad was perplexed. 
 
 "Yet here I am. " Phyllis was hugely enjoying 
 
THE MASQUERADE 119 
 
 herself. There was no doubt that he took her for 
 Janet, and she delighted in teasing him. 
 
 "Do you mean to tell me that they went off and 
 left you?" Two dark eyebrows that contrasted 
 oddly with the golden wig came together in a 
 frown just above the black mask. 
 
 "Perhaps," — Phyllis threw a note of sorrow 
 into her voice, and her eyes looked up into his 
 without a hint of laughter. 
 
 "I never heard of such a thing, ' ' he said angrily, 
 and something in the way he said it brought back 
 a sudden memory to Phyllis and made her eyes 
 dance. She lowered them quickly, for it was just 
 possible that Don's cousin might prove as clever 
 as Don. 
 
 The knight sat down beside her on the bench 
 and rested his sword beside him. 
 
 "What's your name?" he asked presently. 
 
 "You'd never believe it if I told you," Phyllis 
 replied. 
 
 "Well, tell me anyhow." 
 
 "I am Queen Mab," — Phyllis dropped her voice 
 to a whisper — "but I am masquerading as Pier- 
 rette, so you mustn't tell anybody." 
 
 "Don't be silly," was the knight's ungallant 
 reply. ' ' I mean, who are you really ? ' ' 
 
120 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "See, I told you you wouldn't believe," — Phyl- 
 lis shrugged her shoulders daintily. "I dare say 
 you don't believe in fairies nor brownies either," 
 she ventured, watching him out of the corner of 
 her eye. 
 
 The words should have given the knight the hint 
 he wanted, but he was too cross to understand it 
 just then. 
 
 "Oh, very well," he said huffily, "if you won't 
 tell me, you won't; but don't expect me to tell 
 you my name either." 
 
 "I don't have to," Phyllis laughed gayly. "I 
 know; it's Chuck." 
 
 "Well I'll be darned,"— Sir Galahad stared at 
 her in amazement. "Then I know you?" 
 
 "I didn't say so," Phyllis teased. 
 
 He got up and stood facing her, his arms folded. 
 
 ' ' Come and get some lemonade, ' ' he commanded. 
 "I am going to find out who you are, never you 
 fear, but I am going to do it in my own way. ' ' 
 
 They walked to the little alcove where a maid 
 in cap and apron was busily serving the punch. 
 Chuck kept his eyes fastened on his companion 
 as if he were determined to penetrate her mask 
 and the saucy hood that jingled as they walked. 
 
THE MASQUEEADE 121 
 
 He did not look up until they were at the table 
 and when he did it was to find the monk and the 
 donkey with — he blinked, not his partner, for she 
 was beside him, but surely her double. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CHUCK GUESSES EIGHT 
 
 JANET and Phyllis looked at each other and 
 smiled. Janet's companions were as as- 
 tonished as Chuck. They looked at first 
 one and then the other of the girls, and then 
 Howard whistled. 
 
 "Golly," he exclaimed. It was not a word that 
 fitted his costume but it exactly suited his con- 
 fused frame of mind. 
 
 "I am seeing double or else I'm going crazy 
 and I don't like the feeling," he protested. 
 "Somebody pinch me." 
 
 Both John and Chuck took him at his word and 
 complied heartily with his request. The result 
 was a loud but quickly suppressed "ouch" and a 
 backward lunge that almost upset the table with 
 its precious burden of lemonade. 
 
 Chuck took Phyllis by the arm and almost shook 
 her. 
 
 "Then you weren't you; I mean her," he said 
 
 122 
 
CHUCK GUESSES EIGHT 123 
 
 none too clearly, "but you let me think you were." 
 
 "You mean I let you think I was I. Well, I 
 couldn't very well help it." Phyllis 's tone was 
 apologetic, but her eyes danced. 
 
 Chuck looked appealingly at Janet. 
 
 "You know what I mean," he said. 
 
 "Of course, it's perfectly plain," Janet replied 
 consolingly. "You thought she was me while all 
 the time she was she and me was me," — the hodge- 
 podge of pronouns and their ungrammatical use 
 was too much for poor Chuck. He buried his 
 head in his hands, the picture of despair. 
 
 Phyllis took the opportunity of exchanging a 
 nod and a sly wink with Janet that she apparently 
 understood, for without a second's hesitation she 
 slipped out of her place and Phyllis took it. 
 
 "Well, anyhow you can dance," — Chuck lifted 
 his head and looked at Janet. Howard and John 
 promptly doubled over in a fit of laughter. 
 
 "Oh, but I'm so sorry I can't," Janet said 
 demurely. 
 
 Chuck looked at Phyllis. ' ' Then neither of you 
 dance, I see," he said slowly. 
 
 "Why, I never said I couldn't," Phyllis pro- 
 tested, and Howard, who was trying to recover 
 his first fit of laughter by drinking a cup of punch, 
 
124 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 choked and had to be severely thumped on the back 
 by John. 
 
 Chuck looked angry and puzzled for a minute 
 and then he acknowledged his defeat and laughed 
 good naturedly. 
 
 "One of you dances," he said with conviction. 
 "Will she please do me the honor of dancing this 
 one step with me?" He looked at them both, 
 not at all sure which one would reply. 
 
 "I'd love to," Phyllis said, laughing. 
 
 He took her in his arms and away they whirled. 
 Chuck, unlike most boys of his age, liked to dance, 
 and Phyllis was as light as the fairy she claimed 
 to be, so for a few minutes they did not speak, 
 for they were contented to glide over the waxed 
 floor to the inspiring music. 
 
 "I should say you could dance," Chuck said at 
 last. "If your voice was not entirely different I 
 would say that you were Daphne Hillis." 
 
 "Would you?" — Phyllis did her best to imitate 
 Daphne's drawl, and she succeeded so well that 
 Chuck came to a full stop in the very middle of 
 the floor and stared at her. 
 
 "Are you Daphne?" he demanded. 
 
 Phyllis gave a little laugh and lowered her eyes, 
 but she neither admitted nor denied. 
 
CHUCK GUESSES EIGHT 125 
 
 Chuck started to dance again without saying 
 anoflier word, and presently Phyllis stole a quick 
 glance up at him. She found him staring at her 
 with a new look in his eyes. 
 
 "You are not Daphne," he said with relief. 
 "Taffy has green eyes and yours are brown, red 
 brown like autumn leaves." Phyllis gave a little 
 start, for the words were so like little Don's. 
 
 "I'm glad you are not Taffy," Chuck went on. 
 "I might have known you weren't." 
 
 "Why?" Phyllis could not help asking. 
 
 "Oh, because Taffy and I are on the outs, and 
 she wouldn't dance with me for anything," he 
 replied indifferently. 
 
 "She might," was all Phyllis would say, her 
 brain already busy with a plan. 
 
 "Too bad your twin doesn't dance," was 
 Chuck's next remark, and for a minute Phyllis 
 lost step and almost stumbled. He had used the 
 word without thinking, never realizing how near 
 the truth he was. 
 
 "But do look," he exclaimed a second later, 
 "she does; there she goes with Jerry Dodd, and 
 she dances beautifully too. Whatever made her 
 say she couldn't?" 
 
 Phyllis was speechless with mirth, but she man- 
 
126 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 aged to nod to Daphne as she sailed by, still with 
 Jerry. 
 
 The dance ended, it was the fifth of the evening, 
 and the four girls had all promised to leave their 
 partners and return to the dressing-room to com- 
 pare notes when it was over. 
 
 Phyllis found the others all there waiting for 
 her, for it had been difficult to find an excuse to 
 satisfy Chuck. He made her promise to meet him 
 at the bench for the seventh dance before he would 
 leave her to keep his next dance with Muriel. 
 
 "Oh, oh, oh, was there ever such a lark!" Sally 
 exclaimed. "I have danced with five different 
 boys and not one of them guessed who I was, and 
 yet I know them all and have danced with them 
 scores of times." 
 
 "Have you been dancing with Jerry all eve- 
 ning?" Phyllis asked Daphne, as Janet regaled 
 Sally with a description of the scene by the punch 
 bowl. 
 
 "What else can I do?" Daphne groaned. "He 
 says he won't let me go until he finds out who I 
 am, and I simply won't tell him. I saw you 
 dancing with Chuck. How do you like him?" 
 
 "Oh, ever so much," Phyllis replied, and then 
 she laughed harder tban ever. 
 
CHUCK GUESSES EIGHT 127 
 
 Daphne demanded an explanation, and when 
 Phyllis gave it, together with her plan, she heart- 
 ily agreed. 
 
 "Then it's settled that we all meet at the bench 
 just as the lights go out before the gong rings to 
 unmask," Sally said, as they started back down- 
 stairs. The rest nodded, and at the door of the 
 ballroom they separated, each to her waiting part- 
 ner, rather to a waiting partner. 
 
 Sally joined Howard and John in the library, 
 to continue Janet's dancing lessons, and Janet 
 hurried to the punch bowl to find a jolly King 
 Cole who had Sally's promise to sit out the dance 
 with him and let him guess who she was. 
 
 Chuck, after leaving Muriel rather unceremoni- 
 ously, rushed to the bench beneath the palms, and 
 Daphne greeted him with a smile of welcome. 
 Phyllis was claimed at once on her appearance by 
 the persistent Jerry, and they danced off, as Jerry 
 firmly believed, taking up the threads of their con- 
 versation exactly where he and Daphne had left 
 off. 
 
 The room was so large that it was surprisingly 
 easy to keep out of one another's way, and not 
 one of the four boys realized that there were more 
 than two girls wearing the same kind of costume. 
 
128 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 The dance ended, and the girls lost themselves 
 in the crowd, to appear in person for their next 
 dance, the boys none the wiser. Only John, with 
 his donkey's head very much awry, noticed a 
 change as he watched Howard Garth painstak- 
 ingly teaching Sally the rest of the steps to the 
 fox trot. Janet had not thought of telling Sally 
 that she was being very nice to John ; she hardly 
 realized it herself; so Sally ignored him as girls 
 always ignored John, and he noticed it. It took 
 Janet several minutes to make him forget his 
 grievance when she came back at the ninth dance 
 to have one more lesson. 
 
 The tenth dance had hardly begun before the 
 music slowed noticeably, and the lights gradually 
 grew dim, the room blurred, and the couples came 
 to a standstill as darkness descended over them. 
 Four figures hurried their protesting partners to- 
 wards the bench under the palm. They were all 
 there by the time the gong sounded. 
 
 Suddenly the lights blazed on again, and four 
 very surprised boys stared in bewilderment at the 
 four girls before them. 
 
 "Oh, now I know I'm crazy!" Howard ex- 
 claimed. "So don't bother to pinch me," he 
 added, as Chuck and John lifted their arms. 
 
CHUCK GUESSES RIGHT 129 
 
 Jerry Dodd looked reproachfully at Daphne and 
 "wagged his head. 
 
 "It was you all the time," he said, "but how 
 could a feller be expected to know when you talked 
 the fool way you did. ' ' 
 
 "But, Jerry, are you sure you were dancing 
 all the time with me?" Daphne's drawl sounded 
 pleasantly on all ears. 
 
 "That I am," Jerry replied, with so much cer- 
 tainty that Phyllis and Daphne shrieked with 
 laughter. 
 
 Grant Weeks, in spite of the dignity that his 
 King Cole suit gave him, looked very limp as he 
 sat down on the bench. All he seemed to be able 
 to say was, 
 
 "Sally Ladd — you — you — " The rest was lost 
 in groans. 
 
 Up until now Chuck had not spoken. He had 
 stood looking at all the girls in turn, and particu- 
 larly at Phyllis and Janet. 
 
 "What I want to know is, when did I dance with 
 which?" he demanded so seriously that the rest 
 laughed with delight. 
 
 "And who takes who to supper?" inquired 
 Grant. "Sally, I may not have danced with you, 
 nor sat out in the conservatory and argued ..with 
 
130 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 you, but I am going to take you in to supper, so 
 come along." 
 
 "I don't know whether 1 ought to go with a boy 
 that doesn't know whether he knows me or not," 
 Sally laughed, "but I will just this once." 
 
 Howard turned to Janet. 
 
 "Did I or didn't I teach you to dance?" he 
 demanded. 
 
 ' ' You did, ' ' — Janet laughed. ' ' That is, part of 
 the time. Come on, John, we'll all go down to- 
 gether. I'm awfully hungry." 
 
 "I knew it," John said to himself, and he smiled 
 even through his donkey's mask. 
 
 Phyllis and Daphne were left, and Chuck and 
 Jerry looked at them uneasily. 
 
 "What are we going to do about it?" Jerry de- 
 manded. 
 
 "Suit yourself," — Chuck laughed. "I am go- 
 ing to take — " and here he paused, for he sud- 
 denly remembered that he had never been intro- 
 duced to Phyllis and did not even know her name. 
 
 "Daphne, introduce us," he begged. 
 
 "But we've met already," Phyllis protested. 
 "Have you forgotten?" 
 
 "Oh, I don't mean that silly Queen Mab intro* 
 duction," Chuck said. 
 
CHUCK GUESSES EIGHT 131 
 
 "Neither do I," Phyllis confused him still fur- 
 ther by replying. 
 
 Jerry took Daphne's arm and hurried her off. 
 
 "Let's let them settle it themselves," he said 
 over his shoulder. 
 
 Chuck looked at Phyllis and smiled. 
 
 ' ' Please, ' ' he said coaxingly. But Phyllis shook 
 her head. 
 
 "Not unless you promise to believe in Don's 
 brownies," she answered, and as she spoke she 
 pulled off her hood. 
 
 Chuck looked at her and gasped. 
 
 "Of course," he exclaimed, "you're the girl 
 that brought Don home, and I saw you one day 
 when I was with Muriel and she told me you were 
 one of the Page twins and — " he stopped, and 
 Phyllis guessed that the rest of Muriel's remarks 
 had not been any too sweet. 
 
 "Well, take a good look at me," she teased, 
 "for once I leave you, you will never be able to 
 tell me from Janet. ' ' 
 
 "Oh, won't I?" Chuck replied. "I bet I will, 
 and I'll prove it after supper." 
 
 His chance came a little later. Both girls stood 
 before him, their hoods thrown back and their 
 eyes laughing up at him. 
 
132 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "It's easy," Chuck laughed, holding out hia 
 hand to Phyllis, "you are Don's girl," he said. 
 
 "Oh, Don told you the secret," Sally protested. 
 
 "He did not," Chuck denied. 
 
 "Close your eyes then and turn around," Janet 
 directed. She and Phyllis changed places, and 
 when Sally called "ready," Chuck turned to find 
 them still, hef ore him but with their eyes tight 
 shut. 
 
 "Easy again," he said, and took Phyllis by the 
 hand. 
 
 The little group looked at each other in aston- 
 ishment, for they had all been baffled, and Daphne 
 said, 
 
 "Tell us how you did it?" 
 
 "No, that's my secret," Chuck replied firmly; 
 "mine and Don's, and I'll never tell." 
 
 And he kept his word, for not until many years 
 later did the Page twins learn the difference that 
 he saw between them every time he looked at them. 
 
p 
 
 CHAPTER Xm 
 
 A BLUE MONDAY 
 
 **lf^\HYL, do come away from that window; 
 you've been staring ont into the dark 
 ever since dinner." Janet spoke from 
 the depth of her favorite chair where, as usual, 
 she was ensconced with a book and Born. To- 
 night Sir Galahad was cuddled down on her shoul- 
 der as well, for his own mistress was restless com- 
 pany. Born eyed the interloper with open dis- 
 approval. There was a truce of sorts between 
 the two animals ; a truce not in any way to be con- 
 fused with a peace. Bora's bared teeth and Sir 
 Galahad's arched back were constant signs that 
 a state of war existed between them. 
 
 "What under the sun are you looking at?" 
 Janet went on impatiently. "You give me the 
 fidgets." 
 
 "Oh, read your book," Phyllis said without 
 turning. "I'm only star gazing." 
 
 "Read? How under the sun can I, with Gala- 
 
 133 
 
134 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 had and Boru making faces at each other under 
 my very nose. Come and take your cat, or I will 
 dump him on the floor; he's making Boru miser- 
 ably jealous." 
 
 Phyllis sighed and turned reluctantly from the 
 window. 
 
 "Poor old kittens, didn't his Aunt Jan love 
 him? Well, it was too bad! Come to his own 
 mistress." She picked up the cat and held him 
 in her arms. Galahad purred contentedly and 
 rubbed his silky ear against her soft cheek. 
 
 Unconsciously Phyllis returned to the window. 
 There was a light in the window of the house 
 across the yard. It was the same window where 
 only a few days ago the caretaker had fitted the 
 wire screen with so much care. To-night the 
 shade was down, but a shadow passed and re- 
 passed, looming large and mysterious behind it. 
 
 "What under the sun is he doing in that room?" 
 Phyllis pondered, encouraging the mysterious rea- 
 sons that fitted through her head and enlarging 
 upon them. 
 
 A prodigious sigh from Janet interrupted the 
 most thrilling story of all, and she gave up and 
 returned to her place on the sofa. 
 
 "Do you realize that just forty-eight hours ago 
 
A BLUE MONDAY 135 
 
 we were having the time of our lives?" Janet de- 
 manded. 
 
 "It seems years ago to me," Phyllis replied. 
 ' ' What fun it was ! I don 't think I ever had a bet- 
 ter time at any party I ever went to." 
 
 "Well, I never went to any other party," — 
 Janet laughed — "unless you'd call the church fair 
 at Old Chester a party, and I don't. I call it a 
 nightmare." She made a wry face as memories 
 assailed her. 
 
 "How about the tea party we gave at grand- 
 mother's?" Phyllis inquired. "We had fun at 
 that, wearing each other's dresses, do you re- 
 member?" 
 
 "Of course, but I wouldn't call it a party," — 
 Janet frowned, trying to think of a better word. 
 "I think it was an experience," she said at last. 
 
 Phyllis laughed. ' ' What make s you say that ? ' ' 
 she asked. 
 
 "Well, if you had heard the things those girls 
 said about me to me, thinking I was you, why, 
 you'd understand," Janet said, and she smiled a 
 little wistfully. 
 
 "Jan," Phyllis asked suddenly, "tell me some- 
 thing honestly and truly. Do you ever miss Old 
 Chester?" 
 
136 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 Janet thought for a minute and then shook her 
 head. 
 
 " No, I honestly don % ' ' she said slowly. ' ' And 
 I can't make myself, somehow." 
 
 "Do you tryf " 
 
 "Yes, sometimes." 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 ' ' Because I think I ought to. It seems so thank- 
 less of me to go whole days without even remem- 
 bering there is such a place." 
 
 Phyllis jumped up from the couch, tumbling 
 Galahad to the floor and threw her arms around 
 her. 
 
 "Oh, you darling!" she exclaimed. "I could 
 hug you to death for saying that. You're such 
 a queer dick that sometimes I get scared to death 
 and think surely you are pining for the country, 
 and then I want to die of misery. You're so quiet 
 and queer sometimes. ' ' 
 
 Janet return her twin's hug with interest. 
 
 "You want me to be like you," she laughed, 
 "and I never will be. I suppose I've been quiet 
 so long that it is a habit. I just can't help think, 
 ing long thoughts, I always have, you see, but, 
 oh, Phyl, they're all happy thoughts these days," 
 
A BLUE MONDAY 137 
 
 "And y<ra don't miss a single person, ever?" 
 Phyllis persisted. 
 
 Janet hesitated ; she wanted to be quite honest 
 
 "Well," she said at last, "I do miss Peter 
 once in a while ; that is, I wish he were here to talk 
 things over with, and sometimes when I read 
 something I like awfully much I sort of wish I 
 could tell him about it," she finished lamely. 
 
 Phyllis nodded in perfect understanding. She 
 knew that Peter Gribbs held the same place in 
 Janet's thoughts that her girl friends held in hers. 
 
 "I wish I had seen him," she mused. "It's so 
 much more fun to talk about a person you know 
 than to have to imagine all about them. What- 
 ever possessed him to run away just before I 
 came? I think it was downright mean of him, 
 and some day I'm going to tell him so." 
 
 "Tell him Christmas vacation," — Janet 
 laughed. "He is going to be with Mrs. Todd at 
 the Enchanted Kingdom, and so we'll probably 
 see him." 
 
 "And so we will probably see him," — mimicked 
 Phyllis. "I guess there won't be much doubt 
 about that," — she yawned, and as if in answer to 
 her thoughts the clock struck nine. 
 
138 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Let's go to bed; school to-morrow," she said 
 sleepily. "Thank goodness Christmas is not so 
 very far away. I'm going to lie in bed just as 
 late as ever I want to, in Old Chester." 
 
 Janet smiled to herself. She pictured Martha's 
 shocked surprise at the very idea of staying in 
 bed just for the fun of it, but she did not disillu- 
 sionize Phyllis. 
 
 Monday morning is always a restless time at 
 school, for the girls are all too busy living over 
 the events of the week end to settle down to les- 
 sons, and this particular Monday, coming as it 
 did just after Muriel's party, made it even harder 
 than ever. 
 
 The four girls, Phyllis, Janet, Daphne and 
 Sally, were the center of attraction, for the rest 
 had only heard in part the story of their exchange 
 of partners and they wanted it all. 
 
 "I heard that Jerry Dodd was sick in bed all 
 yesterday," Rosamond teased. "He laughed so 
 hard that he broke something in his side. ' ' 
 
 "You mean he ate so much," drawled Daphne. 
 "I told him if he insisted upon eating the sixth 
 chicken pattie he would be sorry, and now I hope 
 he is." 
 
A BLUE MONDAY 139 
 
 The girls were all sitting on desks as near as 
 they could get to Sally and Janet. 
 
 "Dancing school begins next week," Eleanor 
 announced. "Who's going this year?" 
 
 "You and Janet are, aren't you?" Eosamond 
 asked Phyllis. 
 
 "I haven't asked Auntie Mogs yet, but I sup- 
 pose we are," Phyllis replied. "How about you, 
 Daphne?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, might as well." Daphne knew all 
 there was to know about dancing, but she did not 
 consider that any reason for stopping. 
 
 "We're going of course," Eleanor said, "and, 
 Sally, of course you'll come." 
 
 But Sally shook her head. She had been un- 
 usually quiet, but none of the girls had noticed it. 
 Now they all looked at her in surprise. 
 
 "Oh, but, Sally, why?" Rosamond demanded. 
 
 "What's all this?" Madge Cannon stopped to 
 join the group on her way to senior row. "Sally 
 not going to dancing school? Preposterous! It 
 won't be any fun without her. What's the 
 trouble?" 
 
 "Wouldn't be worth while," Sally said shortly. 
 
 "Worth while ! Sally Ladd, what are you talk- 
 ing about ? ' ' Phyllis demanded. Something in the 
 
140 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 expression of Sally's eyes made her realize that 
 she was not joking. 
 
 "I mean I won't be here after Christmas," 
 Sally said in a dull level tone, and she stared 
 straight before her as she spoke. 
 
 "Won't be here?" — the girls gazed at her in 
 stupefied astonishment. 
 
 "You don't really mean that you are going to 
 boarding school?" Eleanor demanded. "You 
 said something about it at the beginning of school 
 but no one believed you." 
 
 "Well, it's true," Sally said dismally. 
 "Mother had a letter this morning from the head 
 of the school and it's all arranged." 
 
 "Oh, Sally — " the girls were speechless, each 
 tried to picture the loss of Sally, first to herself, 
 and then to the school; then they looked at Phyllis 
 and Janet and then at Daphne, and realized that 
 their sorrow could not be compared to theirs. 
 One by one they slipped away, and the four girls 
 were left alone. 
 
 "Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, do say some- 
 thing," Sally said at last. There were tears in 
 her voice, and the girls were quick to notice them. 
 
 "Oh, Sally, why didn't you tell us?" Phyllis 
 asked. 
 
A BLUE MONDAY 141 
 
 "Didn't get a chance," Sally replied; "and 
 anyway I couldn't somehow." 
 
 Janet put her hand over her friend's and 
 squeezed it. There was nothing to say. 
 
 "It's — it's all wrong," — there was more feeling 
 in Daphne's voice than her usual drawl permitted. 
 
 The hell fell on their silence a minute later. 
 
 It was not until the study hour was almost over 
 that Phyllis realized that Muriel had not come. 
 Sally's news had completely swamped all other 
 thoughts. She put up the lid of her desk and 
 under its cover slipped a note back to Janet. She 
 read it and passed it to Sally, who shook her head 
 and looked puzzled. 
 
 "Hope she isn't sick," she whispered. 
 
 Muriel did not arrive until study hour was over, 
 and the girls were chatting in the ten-minute in- 
 terval. 
 
 "Hello ! ' ' Phyllis greeted her as she slipped into 
 her seat. One look at her face made her add : 
 
 "Why, what is the matter?" 
 
 Muriel's eyes were red and swollen, and she 
 looked as though she had been crying for hours. 
 Phyllis did not show as much concern as she might 
 have, for it was a well-known fact that Muriel 
 cried very easily. 
 
142 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 At Phyllis 's question, she buried her head in her 
 arms and started to sob. 
 
 "Something terrible has happened," she man- 
 aged to say. "I'm so nervous I simply can't stop 
 crying. I've been interviewed by policemen and 
 detectives all morning and I am frightened to 
 death." 
 
 Phyllis put her arm around her consolingly. 
 
 "But what has happened, dear? Tell us," she 
 begged. 
 
 "Oh, it's too terrible for words!" Muriel was 
 certainly prolonging the agony. 
 
 "What is?" Sally demanded sharply. 
 
 "Chuck's little cousin has been kidnapped!" 
 It was out, and Muriel looked up long enough to 
 judge the effect on her hearers and then fell to 
 sobbing again. 
 
 Phyllis felt something in her throat contract. 
 
 "Little Don?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes, and, oh, dear, just because I'd seen him 
 in the park yesterday I had to answer all kinds 
 of questions, and I'm all nervous and tired out." 
 
 The girls looked at the crumpled heap in dis- 
 gust. It was like the Muriel of this year to in- 
 sist on being the central figure. 
 
A BLUE MONDAY 143 
 
 They went back to their desks in thoughtful 
 silence. 
 
 Phyllis sat beside Muriel, quite unconscious of 
 her tears ; her hands were clenched, and her eyes 
 saw nothing but Don's impish little face. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 MISS PBINGLE 
 
 CHUCK was waiting at the corner of the 
 street when school closed that afternoon, 
 but it was not for Muriel that he watched. 
 He wanted to talk to Phyllis. He was desperately 
 unhappy and he had to talk to some one. Boys, 
 even his best friends, were not sympathetic 
 enough. Muriel would be sure to blub; Chuck 
 had seen her that morning. Daphne would drawl 
 and that would drive him crazy, so it was for 
 Phyllis that he waited, sure of her ready sym- 
 pathy, for she had loved Don. 
 
 Phyllis came down the steps with Janet and 
 Sally and Daphne, but as soon as she saw him she 
 left the girls and hurried towards him. 
 
 "Oh, Chuck, Muriel has told us about Don, and 
 I want you to know how terribly we all feel," she 
 said sincerely. "Have you had any news?" 
 
 "Only a letter for my uncle, telling him to go to 
 some old house way up in Bronxville and to bring 
 a lot of money with him," Chuck replied. "The 
 
 144 
 
MISS PEINGLE 146 
 
 police tell him not to go, but I think he will ; yon 
 see the letter says if he doesn't come that they 
 will hurt Don." 
 
 "Oh, how dreadful, how detestable!" Phyllis 
 exclaimed. ' 'How could any one be so wicked, and 
 to Don above all people!" Chuck looked at her 
 quickly. He expected to see tears in her eyes, but 
 instead he saw anger — flashing burning anger. 
 
 "When does the letter tell him to be at the 
 house?" she asked abruptly. 
 
 "A week from to-day." 
 
 "Why not sooner, I wonder." 
 
 "Because they figure that the longer Uncle Don 
 has to wait the readier he'll be to give them what 
 they want. As if he cares how mueh money it is 
 as long as he can get Don back again!" Chuck 
 looked down the street and tried to keep his eyes 
 clear from the tears that had threatened to flood 
 them all morning. He too was seeing little Don's 
 chubby face. 
 
 "My mother is with Uncle Don now," he went 
 on after a minute's pause, "but there isn't much 
 she can do or say. She's almost as heartbroken 
 as he is. It — it 's pretty tough on the little chap, ' ' 
 he ended with a queer choke. 
 
 As they turned the corner, the girls joined them, 
 
146 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 and added their sympathy. But Chuck was in no 
 mood to answer their questions, so with an abrupt 
 "s'long" he turned at the next street and left 
 them. 
 
 "Let's go up to the snuggery," Janet sug- 
 gested. "I don't feel up to much to-day." 
 
 "Neither do I," Sally said. "I can't think of 
 anything but Don, poor little mite. I hope they 
 are kind to him." 
 
 "Oh, Sally, for pity's sake stop!" Phyllis 
 spoke so sharply that the girls turned to look at 
 her; her eyes were still flashing but her lip 
 trembled. 
 
 "I can't bear it," she added more softly. 
 
 "Sorry, ' ' Sally said penitently, and they walked 
 in silence until they reached the house. 
 
 "Auntie Mogs, we're all very unhappy," Janet 
 began as they stopped to greet Miss Carter in the 
 hall. "Little Donald Keith has been kidnapped. 
 Muriel Grey cried all through school, and Sally 
 is not coming back after Christinas." 
 
 It speaks well for Miss Carter's understanding 
 of her two nieues that she did not have to ask for 
 a more concise statement but accepted Janet's ex- 
 planation in its entirety. 
 
 "How very sad," she said at once. "Poor Mr. 
 
MISS PRINGLE 147 
 
 Keith must be almost frantic, and Mrs. Vincent 
 too. I wish there was something 1 I conld do, 
 though I know them so slightly. Sally dear, your 
 mother told me this morning that you were not 
 going back to school after the holidays and I am 
 so very sorry. The girls will be desolate without 
 you. How do you do, Daphne. I am very glad 
 you came home with the girls. I like to see you 
 four together. Go into the dining-room and have 
 some luncheon right away," she directed. "Per- 
 haps that will make you feel better. What are 
 you going to do this afternoon?" 
 
 "Nothing special," Janet replied. 
 
 "Then I will ask a favor of you all," — she fol- 
 lowed them to the dining-room and took her place 
 at the head of the table. 
 
 "We'll grant it before we hear it," — Daphne's 
 drawl sounded very soft and musical. 
 
 "Of course," Sally agreed. 
 
 "What is it, Auntie Mogs?" Janet inquired. 
 
 Miss Carter smiled delightedly. 
 
 "That's very sweet of you, but wait until you 
 hear what it is I want you to do. This afternoon 
 my class from the settlement is coming here for 
 tea after I have taken them to the Art Museum. 
 There are ten of them; all girls about your own 
 
148 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 age. I intended to give them chocolate and cake, 
 as it is so cold to-day, and Annie was going to 
 serve it, but this morning a telegram came saying 
 her sister is very ill, so Annie is leaving on the 
 three o'clock train for Buffalo and that leaves 
 only Lucy. Will you do the waiting and serving 
 for me?" 
 
 "Why, of course, we'd love to," they all an- 
 swered together. 
 
 "I can make delicious hot chocolate," Sally 
 announced, "so I might stay in the kitchen and 
 help Lucy." 
 
 "And have first whack at the cakes; I think 
 not," Daphne replied firmly. 
 
 "Now, my Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was ever 
 any one so misunderstood?" Sally turned to 
 Miss Carter for sympathy. 
 
 "Never, my dear, I am sure Daphne's suspi- 
 cions are unjust." Auntie Mogs laughed. "But 
 I must hurry away or I will be late and that's one 
 thing my children can't forgive. Poor darlings, 
 they have so few outings that they hate to waste a 
 minute of their precious time." 
 
 "Why don't you take them to the zoo?" Phyllis 
 spoke for the first time, her voice sounded very 
 
MISS PRINGLE 149 
 
 tired but she smiled. "They'd like it a heap bet- 
 ter than the museum. ' ' 
 
 "No, dear, I think you're wrong. They are all 
 very anxious to see the pictures," Auntie Mogs 
 replied, "but perhaps we'll stop in for a minute 
 to see your beautiful Akbar on our way home." 
 
 She left them and hurried off, and again an un- 
 happy silence fell upon them as they finished their 
 luncheon. 
 
 "Let's go up to the snuggery," Janet sug- 
 gested; "we don't have to help Lucy for hours 
 yet." 
 
 They climbed the stairs, followed by Boru and 
 Galahad, and finally settled themselves comfort- 
 ably in the little room. 
 
 "Let's do our math," Sally suggested. "It's 
 awfully hard. Taffy, you can help us." 
 
 They pulled out the table and were soon at 
 work. Phyllis tried to keep her mind on the prob- 
 lems before her, but her eyes wandered to the win- 
 dow where she could see that the shade across 
 the yard was still pulled down. She welcomed 
 Annie 's interruption a few minutes later. 
 
 "Please, miss," she said, "Lucy finds that there 
 is no chocolate in the house, so will you please tele- 
 
150 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 phone for some and tell them to bring it over right 
 away." 
 
 "No, I'll go for it instead, Annie." Phyllis 
 jumped up, glad of an excuse to be alone. 
 
 "Thank you, miss." Anne went downstairs, 
 to assure Lucy that the chocolate would surely be 
 there on time. 
 
 "Too bad," Janet said, looking up from her 
 paper. "We'll all go with you, Phyl." 
 
 "Don't bother. The math is coming along so 
 well with Taffy's help, keep on with it. I won't be 
 a second, and I don't mind going alone a bit. I'll 
 take Boru with me ; he looks as though he wanted 
 a run. How about it, old fellow?" 
 
 Boru wagged his tail, looked at Janet, and then 
 followed Phyllis, barking lustily. 
 
 Once in the air with the stiff chill breeze in her 
 face and Boru frisking beside her, she threw off 
 some of the depression that was making the day 
 horrible. The grocery was only a couple of blocks 
 away, and she soon had her package and was on 
 her way home. 
 
 As she turned the corner she found herself face 
 to face with Miss Pringle. She was carrying a 
 heavy suit case. 
 
MISS PRINGLE 151 
 
 "Why, what are you doing in this neighbor- 
 hood?" she asked, smiling. 
 
 Miss Pringle stopped, started forward and 
 stopped again. 
 
 "Why — er — er — I — how do you do?" she stam- 
 mered, so plainly ill at ease that Phyllis looked 
 at her in amazement. 
 
 "We had a wonderful time at our masquerade," 
 she said in an attempt to make conversation. 
 
 "Yes, yes, to be sure, dear me, good-by, young 
 lady — I — " She was indeed flustered, and Phyl- 
 lis could hardly repress a smile, for Miss Pringle 's 
 hat was well over one ear, and the dotted veil 
 that should have covered her face was whipping 
 itself into ribbons off the back of her head. 
 
 "But you haven't told me what you are doing 
 down here?" Phyllis insisted. 
 
 Miss Pringle looked really troubled. 
 
 "I can't, indeed I can't, young lady," she al- 
 most cried. "I must go — I must indeed." She 
 hurried on, keeping to the inside of the street and 
 gazing about her furtively. 
 
 "Now, what under the sun is old Pringle up 
 to?" Phyllis mused. "I never saw her so flus- 
 tered. Well, come on, old man, let's take a little 
 
152 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 walk before we go in. They'll never miss lis, and 
 you needn't tell Galahad." 
 
 Boru looked up and cocked one ear rakishly, as 
 though he thoroughly enjoyed the joke. 
 
 "Here, sir." Ten minutes later Phyllis gave 
 the command, and Boru stopped running so sud- 
 denly that he almost tripped on his nose. 
 
 Phyllis slipped her hand under his collar and 
 pulled him behind the high stoop that they were 
 just passing. She had seen Miss Pringle coming 
 towards them almost a block away, and she had 
 no desire for another conversation with her. She 
 watched her approach, wondering where she was 
 going, and hoping that she would enter some house 
 before she reached their hidingplace. 
 
 Miss Pringle was still walking close to the 
 houses and seemed to be in a terrible hurry. Her 
 hat bobbed more than ever, and the short coat she 
 wore bulged out in the wind, making her indeed 
 a comical figure. 
 
 When she reached a house that was boarded 
 up, she paused and looked quickly behind her. 
 It looked as though she were alone on the street. 
 Phyllis watched her, interested in spite of herself, 
 and saw her bob down and disappear into an 
 area way. 
 
MISS PEINGLE 153 
 
 "Of course," she said to Boru, as she loosed 
 him from her hold, "I might have known where 
 she was going. The Blaines' caretaker must be 
 a relation of hers. I saw him at her house that 
 day. She must be going to stay with him. But 
 why under the sun was she so mysterious about 
 it, I wonder? And why doesn't she stay in the 
 basement instead of occupying Miss Amy's dress- 
 ing-room, and why the screen ? ' ' 
 
 Still very much puzzled, she walked home. The 
 immediate preparations for the tea party occu- 
 pied her for the remainder of the afternoon. 
 
CHAPTEE XV 
 
 A WHITE MITTEN 
 
 DAYS passed, and still no news of little 
 Don. Chuck now made it a habit to 
 wait for Phyllis and walk home with her 
 and Janet. 
 
 Each day the greeting was the same. 
 
 "Any news?" and always Chuck shook his head 
 and answered, "Not yet." 
 
 Friday morning Janet woke up with a sore 
 throat and a headache, and Miss Carter kept her 
 home. Phyllis went to school as usual, and in 
 the afternoon Chuck met her. 
 
 "The week's almost up," he said after the usual 
 question had been asked and answered, "and Un- 
 cle Don is determined to go on Monday with the 
 money. He's had a letter since the first, you 
 know, telling him to double the sum." 
 
 "Will they have Don there at the house wait- 
 ing for him?" Phyllis inquired. 
 
 "No, indeed. There's not a word about that. 
 
 154 
 
A WHITE MITTEN 155 
 
 The detectives say that they will probably try to 
 take the money by force; perhaps knock Uncle 
 Don senseless. They don't want him to go, but 
 they have to admit that they haven't a single 
 clew. ' ' 
 
 "Oh, Chnck, isn't it hateful not to be able to do 
 a single thing to help ? ' ' Phyllis 's voice rang with 
 real emotion. 
 
 "You bet," Chuck agreed. "I lie awake at 
 night thinking all kinds of things and planning 
 what I'd do if I ever caught those brutes, but that 
 doesn't do much good. I wish Uncle Don would 
 let me go with him on Monday. I'd take a gun 
 along and do a little holding up on my own hook." 
 
 "But that would only make things worse; 
 they'd be sure to do something awful to Don 
 then," Phyllis reasoned. 
 
 "Suppose so," Chuck was forced to admit. "I 
 don't suppose I'll see you to-morrow, will I?" he 
 added. 
 
 "Why not?" Phyllis inquired. "Come over to 
 the house in the afternoon and we can go for a 
 walk." 
 
 Chuck looked at her gratefully. "Thanks, 
 guess I will; I'll be over about two." He lifted 
 his cap as they reached the steps of the house and 
 
156 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 turned to go. "Tell Janet I'm sorry she is sick," 
 he called back, and Phyllis nodded as Annie 
 opened the door. 
 
 She found Janet up and dressed, but playing 
 the invalid up in the snuggery. 
 
 "Any news?" she called, as she heard Phyllis 's 
 step on the stairs. 
 
 "Not yet, and the week's almost up," Phyllis 
 replied sadly. 
 
 "Did you walk home with Chuck?" 
 
 "Yes, and he said he was very sorry you were 
 sick and he sent you his love." 
 
 "Thanks, but what are they going to do?" 
 
 Phyllis gave a little shudder. 
 
 "Don't use that awful word 'they/ " she said. 
 "It always means the kidnappers to me, and some- 
 how or other every time I hear it I seem to see 
 bandits with gold ear-rings and red handkerchiefs 
 tied round their heads, and they are always doing 
 something horrible to little Don." 
 
 "I know," Janet agreed sympathetically, "only 
 I don't think of they as that kind of bandit. I 
 wish I did. It wouldn't be half so hard to find 
 them and have a real old fight, but these creatures 
 that have stolen Don are men and they look just 
 like everybody else." 
 
A WHITE MITTEN 157 
 
 "Except inside," Phyllis added. 
 
 "Of course, but their insides don't help. We 
 can't see anything but their everyday outside 
 looks," Janet reminded her. 
 
 Phyllis was thoughtful for a little, then she said 
 slowly, "I'm sure I don't know why I should feel 
 so terribly about it; worse than the rest of you, 
 I mean, but somehow I do. Don was such a dar- 
 ling that day that I met him in the park, and I 've 
 sort of loved him ever since, and now to think that 
 he's shut up somewhere and can't get out, and that 
 perhaps he's being badly treated and starved. 
 t)h, Jan, I just can't bear it, and if I feel like this 
 just imagine his poor father!" 
 
 "But surely they — the detectives — will find 
 him, ' ' — Janet tried to console ; ' ' and anyhow Mon- 
 day something is bound to happen." 
 
 "Yes, and worrying won't help, and it's unkind 
 to you, poor darling," — Phyllis smiled with de- 
 termination. ' ' How is the throat, and the head by 
 this time?" 
 
 "Oh, loads better. I feel perfectly well; but 
 it's such fun being an invalid. I told Annie to 
 bring luncheon up here. Auntie Mogs is out and 
 I waited for you." 
 
 "Angel, you must be starved to death, but here 
 
158 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 comes Annie now. I can hear her venerable boots 
 creaking up the stairs." 
 
 Annie appeared with a tray, and Phyllis busied 
 herself putting the table where Janet could reach 
 it comfortably. 
 
 "Filet of sole and that nice sauce that Lucy 
 knows I love; how nice." She sat down opposite 
 Janet, and for the time being gave herself up to 
 cheering her. 
 
 "Sally and Daphne are coming over to-morrow 
 morning. They both sent their love and every- 
 body was so, so sorry you were sick. 1 had t<? 
 answer questions all morning. Even old Ducky 
 Lucky said she hoped you'd be better, though I 
 really think she has grave doubts as to whether 
 I was not masquerading as you." 
 
 Janet laughed. 
 
 "I never thought I could miss school so much," 
 she said, "but it has seemed ages since you left. 
 Auntie Mogs has been an angel; she read to me 
 all morning and only went out because I simply 
 made her." 
 
 The afternoon wore on slowly. Phyllis did not 
 go out, but insisted on reading aloud to Janet. 
 
 In the middle of the afternoon the room grew 
 stuffy, and she went to open the window.- By 
 
Something white caught her eye 
 
 Page 161 
 
A WHITE MITTEN 161 
 
 chance she looked down on the roof below her and 
 just across the yard. Something white caught her 
 eye. 
 
 "Jan, come here a second," she said breath- 
 lessly, and Janet hurried to her side. 
 
 "What is it?" she asked. 
 
 "Look down there," Phyllis pointed. "What 
 do you see?" 
 
 Janet looked. "Why, it seems to be a white 
 mitten," she said. 
 
 Phyllis faced her squarely, her breath was com- 
 ing in short little gasps. For a second Janet did 
 not understand, then the bond of understanding 
 that so closely bound them, as twins, together 
 made her see what was going on in Phyllis 's mind. 
 
 "Don?" she asked quietly. 
 
 Phyllis nodded and stared harder at the tiny 
 mitten, and her thoughts raced. For Janet's ben- 
 efit she voiced them. 
 
 "The wire screen, first, then Don talking to the 
 caretaker." 
 
 "When?" Janet interrupted. 
 
 "The day we went in Taffy's car up to Miss 
 Pringle's. Then I saw him. As we left he went 
 in. Then last Monday, remember, I told you I 
 saw Miss Pringle go in that house?" 
 
162 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Yes, you described her hat and the funny way 
 she acted." 
 
 "And now there's a baby's mitten under the 
 window. Of course it doesn't prove anything 
 but — " Phyllis broke off abruptly and went out 
 of the room. When she returned she had a pair 
 of field glasses with her and she looked at the 
 roof through them. 
 
 "There's a blue band on the edge of it," she 
 said, handing the glasses to Janet. "Look, and 
 don't leave the window until I get back," she di- 
 rected. 
 
 She hurried to the telephone and got the Vin- 
 cents' house on the wire and asked to speak to 
 Chuck. His voice answered her after a little 
 wait. 
 
 "Chuck, this is Phyllis Page speaking," she 
 said. "I don't want to give you any false hopes, 
 but something queer has happened. I've found 
 a little white mitten, and I think it belongs to Don. 
 No, don't ask questions. I haven't time to an- 
 swer them. Just find out from Don's nurse what 
 his mittens were like and then come straight over 
 here, and be sure not to say anything to your 
 mother or your uncle, for I may be all wrong." 
 
 She hung up the receiver before Chuck could 
 
A WHITE MITTEN 163 
 
 reply and hurried back to the snuggery. Janet 
 was still looking out of the window as though she 
 feared the mitten might fly away if she took her 
 eyes from it. 
 
 They waited until the door bell announced 
 Chuck's arrival Phyllis flew down the stairs to 
 meet him. 
 
 "Here," he said, by way of greeting and he 
 handed her a white mitten. 
 
 Phyllis took it eagerly; it had a blue border, and 
 it was handmade after a pattern of long ago. 
 
 "Nannie always makes them," Chuck explained. 
 "Where's the one you found?" 
 
 "Come up here and I'll show you." 
 
 Janet gave the glasses to Chuck as soon as he 
 entered the snuggery and Phyllis pointed to the 
 roof below and using as few words as she pos- 
 sibly could she explained about the caretaker and 
 Miss Pringle. 
 
 "I've got to get that mitten," Chuck announced. 
 "Is there a window below this to your roof?" 
 
 "Yes, from the butler's pantry," Phyllis told 
 him. "You could crawl along the fence to that 
 roof easily. It's only a little way." 
 
 "Then 111 do it now," Chuck decided. 
 
 ' ' Oh, but you mustn 't, ' ' Phyllis protested. ' ' If 
 
164 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 any one saw yon from one of the windows they'd 
 know what yon were doing and then all sorts of 
 awful things might happen." 
 
 Chnck reluctantly agreed, and they all thought 
 hard for the next few minutes. 
 
 "I think I have it," Phyllis said at last. 
 "There are only two people in the house that we 
 know of, the caretaker and Miss Pringle. Now 
 if some one rang the bell when the caretaker was 
 out, Miss Pringle would have to come to the door. 
 That would leave the coast clear for you." 
 
 "Go on," Chuck prompted. 
 
 "There's nothing else," Phyllis answered. 
 "We will just have to wait until the caretaker 
 goes out." 
 
 Chuck groaned at the thought of time wasted. 
 
 "When's that likely to be?" he demanded. 
 
 "About sunset. He takes care of some of the 
 furnaces in the neighborhood, so he'll be gone 
 for quite a while," Phyllis told him. 
 
 "I'll go and watch at the corner," Chuck de- 
 cided. 
 
 "What are you going to do if you find the mit- 
 ten is Don's?" the practical Janet asked, and 
 Phyllis and Chuck looked at each other. 
 
A WHITE MITTEN 165 
 
 "Notify the police," Chuck said at last, but 
 Janet shook her head. 
 
 "It might be too late. Miss Pringle'e sure to 
 be suspicious if Phyllis rings the bell and then 
 has nothing to say, and she may take Don away." 
 She spoke as though the mitten had already been 
 identified. 
 
 "I'll tell you," said Phyllis. "Chuck, you 
 watch at the corner, and when you see the care- 
 taker go you come back and go over the roof. 
 I'll ring the bell then and I'll talk my head off to 
 Miss Pringle. If the mitten is Don's, you climb 
 up to the window. We've a ladder in the cellar." 
 
 "And I can take it across the yard and help you 
 haul it up," Janet announced. "It's not a bit 
 heavy." 
 
 "Go on," Chuck said again. 
 
 "You go into the room and get Don and — " 
 Phyllis paused; the window seemed at a dizzy 
 height now that she thought of it as a descent for 
 Don. 
 
 "I'll take him downstairs and straight out the 
 front door," Chuck exclaimed. "I'd like to see 
 a dozen Miss Pringles stop me." 
 
 Phyllis looked at him and decided that it would 
 
166 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 indeed take more than the weak flutterings of the 
 old costume-maker to stop him. 
 
 He hurried down the stairs, and they heard the 
 door slam behind him. 
 
w 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 don! 
 
 'Hf X T E ' D better ^t the ladder," Janet 
 suggested. 
 They went down into the cellar 
 and found it close by the door. It was only a 
 matter of minutes before they had it waiting in 
 readiness in the yard. Luckily Annie and Lucy 
 were too busy preparing supper to notice them. 
 
 They were back in the house just in time to 
 meet Chuck. 
 
 "He's gone," he announced, "and there was 
 another man with him, and I heard him say he 
 was due down town by five o'clock." 
 
 "Are you sure he was the caretaker?" Phyllis 
 inquired, and Chuck gave a satisfactory descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 "Then I'm off," she said as she hurried into 
 her coat. "Give me time to get there before you 
 start." 
 
 She hurried to the house on the next street and 
 
 167 
 
168 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 rang the bell violently, and waited ; then she rang 
 it again, three short rings. 
 
 "Perhaps I can make her think it's a tele- 
 gram," she thought, and her scheme was re- 
 warded, for after a little wait she heard some one 
 scuffling downstairs. The door creaked as the bolt 
 was drawn back, and then it opened a crack. 
 
 "What do you want?" Miss Pringle's voice 
 quavered as she asked. Phyllis put her foot in 
 the crack as she had seen villains do in the movies. 
 
 "Why, I just came around to see you for a min- 
 ute, Miss Pringle," she said sweetly. "I saw you 
 come in here the other day, so I knew where to 
 find you and so to-day when the girls were won- 
 dering what had become of you I told them I knew 
 and they asked me if I would come and see you 
 and ask you if you would make the costumes for 
 our Christmas play. It's to be a queer sort of 
 play, and we want very original costumes, and, 
 of course, you are the only person in the world 
 that can advise us." Poor Phyllis was forced to 
 pause for breath, but Miss Pringle had only time 
 to whisper a flurried, "Oh, no young lady," be- 
 fore she was off again. 
 
 "The play is all about India and the heroine — 
 
DON! 169 
 
 Daphne Hillis is to take the part — is a little slave, 
 but of course she turns out to be the queen in the 
 end, and Madge Cannon is to be the prince, and 
 the important parts will be filled by the seniors 
 and juniors. Just a few of our class are to be in 
 it, but I'm one of them and so is my twin. We 
 look so alike that we are to be pages, you know, 
 and, — " a sound on the stairs made her heart 
 stand still but she went bravely on — "I never told 
 you what a lark we had at our masquerade, did 
 I? It was really a perfect circus, everybody 
 mixed us up," — Miss Pringle attempted to say 
 something, and Phyllis interpreted it her own 
 way. 
 
 "But of course you're more interested in the 
 play, as you say. Well there have to be ever so 
 many costumes. Daphne alone has three, one 
 when she is the slave and another for the queen, 
 and the third when the king condemns her to be 
 beheaded. It's so sad, you know. He says 'Off 
 with her head' and then Daphne lays her beautiful 
 head on the block and the executioner lifts his ter- 
 rible sword and — " she stopped. 
 
 Daphne's fair head was saved by the timely ar- 
 rival of Chuck, carrying the sleeping Don. 
 
170 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 Miss Pringle gave a scream of terror and tried 
 to shut the door, but Phyllis 's foot made that im- 
 possible. 
 
 "Out of my way," Chuck commanded in a voice 
 so strong that, coming as it did on top of Phyllis 's 
 description of swords and executioners, poor Miss 
 Pringle lost all the little presence of mind she had. 
 She fell back limply, and Chuck gained the street. 
 
 Phyllis took her foot out of the door and closed 
 it gently on the limp figure. 
 
 "Give him to me," she begged, as she caught up 
 with Chuck. 
 
 "He's too heavy, but look at him all you want 
 to; it's really Don, Phyllis, and you found him." 
 Tears were running down Chuck's face, but he 
 didn't even know it. 
 
 Phyllis took one of the little hands that hung 
 limply across his shoulder and kissed it gently. 
 
 At the corner they found Janet, and a big burly 
 policeman who was just hanging up the receiver 
 of a police 'phone attached to the telegraph pole. 
 
 "So you've found the little man, glory be!" he 
 exclaimed. "It will be a pill for the force to 
 swallow, but they deserve it! To think I have 
 passed that house every day and never suspected. 
 Well, I'll be after making up for lost time now 
 
DON! 171 
 
 by watching it like a cat until his nibs comes home 
 and then off he'll go!" 
 
 "And the woman?" Phyllis inquired. 
 
 "Sure, she'll go with him to keep him com- 
 pany," — the policeman grinned at what he really 
 considered fine wit, tightened his belt importantly 
 and grasping his night stick more firmly he walked 
 down the street and stopped in a business like 
 way before Miss Pringle's door. 
 
 The girls escorted Chuck back to the house. 
 Auntie Mogs had returned during their absence 
 and met them at the door. 
 
 "Children, where have you been? I have been 
 so worried — " She stopped abruptly, as her eye 
 fell on Chuck and his precious armful. 
 
 "Not little Don?" she asked excitedly. 
 
 "Yes, Auntie Mogs, we've found him." Phyl- 
 lis 's explanation tumbled out in hysterical 
 phrases, the other two adding their own version, 
 and in the midst of it Don woke up. 
 
 "I want to go home," he said sleepily and then, 
 seeing Chuck, he opened his blue eyes wide in 
 wonder. 
 
 "Give him to me," commanded Auntie Mogs, 
 and she hugged him tight in her arms as she com- 
 forted and petted him. 
 
172 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 Chuck, almost too excited for speech, called up 
 his mother on the 'phone. 
 
 "Come straight over to Miss Carter's and bring 
 Uncle Don with you," he said excitedly. "We 
 have news for you, wonderful news." 
 
 He left the 'phone, grinning. 
 
 "I guess Mother had her hat on before she hung 
 up the receiver, ' ' — he laughed. ' ' She didn 't even 
 wait to say good-by." 
 
 "No wonder," Auntie Mogs said, her lips 
 brushing Don's gold hair. 
 
 ' ' I want my daddy, "Don announced. ' ' I want 
 to tell him lots of fings about that bad mans and 
 that silly old woman who said she was my nurse. 
 I told her she was not any such fing 'cause Nan- 
 nie's my nurse, isn't she?" 
 
 "Of course she is, darling," Miss Carter as- 
 sured him. 
 
 Don looked about him and smiled suddenly at 
 Phyllis. 
 
 "You're my girl," he said, dimpling, "and 
 that's your twin." 
 
 Phyllis was on her knees beside him in a min- 
 ute, and he rumpled her hair contentedly until 
 Annie ushered in Mrs. Vincent and Mr. Keith, all 
 out of breath. 
 
DON! 173 
 
 "Chuck, what is it?" Mrs. Vincent asked 
 eagerly. 
 
 For answer Miss Carter put Don into her arms. 
 
 The next few minutes were taken up by repeated 
 explanations, while Don, held tight by his father's 
 big hand, helped out by many illuminating bits 
 of information about "ve bad mans and the silly 
 woman." 
 
 "And I have you to thank, my dear." Mr. 
 Keith held out his hand to Janet as they rose 
 to go. 
 
 Chuck laughed, "Wrong guess, Uncle. This is 
 the one," and he pointed to Phyllis. 
 
 Mr. Keith laughed, and took Phyllis 's hand and 
 gave it a mighty squeeze. 
 
 "Some day I will thank you for what you have 
 done for me," he said huskily, "all of you. Tou 
 have made me the happiest man in the world." 
 
 Mrs. Vincent kissed both the girls, and there 
 was a glint of tears in her soft gray eyes as she 
 shook hands with Miss Carter. 
 
 Chuck was the only one who was quite master 
 of himself. He nodded, as befitted a hero, to them 
 all, until he came to Phyllis. 
 
 "S'long," he said, taking her hand. "I'll see 
 you to-morrow at two." 
 
174 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "So will I," Don's baby voice called from the 
 depth of his father's shoulder; "and every day 
 after that as long as I ever live," he added stoutly. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CHRISTMAS VACATION 
 
 AFTER Don's discovery, things settled 
 down into their normal course, and the 
 days followed one another in a monot- 
 onous row. Weeks passed, and with the first 
 really cold snap came the Christmas holidays. 
 
 Miss Carter and the two girls started on a Fri- 
 day afternoon for Old Chester. There was only 
 one cloud on their happy day and that had been 
 the last good-bys to Sally, who, with Daphne, had 
 come down to the station to see them off. 
 
 "I simply refuse to think of school without 
 her," Phyllis said, as the train pulled out of the 
 tunnel and roared through the northern end of the 
 city. 
 
 "Not only school," sighed Janet, "but after- 
 noons and Sundays. No more skating parties at 
 the rink, no more walks in the park, and no more 
 Saturday evenings at the movies, with Sally to 
 make us laugh at the wrong places." 
 
 17S 
 
176 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Oh, come, children, it's not as bad as that," 
 Miss Carter protested. "Sally will be home for 
 the Easter holidays, and June isn't so very far 
 away." 
 
 "But we are going to Tom's in June," Phyllis 
 reminded her. 
 
 "And when we come back Sally will be going 
 back to that hateful old school again," Janet 
 added tragically. 
 
 "Oh, dear, dear, dear," laughed Auntie Mogs; 
 "it's a very black world, isn't it? I wonder, if I 
 told you a secret, if you would cheer up and see 
 the sun shining once more?" 
 
 "What is it?" — the girls leaned forward eag- 
 erly; they had caught the note of mystery in their 
 aunt's voice. 
 
 "Well," said Auntie Mogs very solemnly, "it's 
 only the beginning of a secret, so you mustn't take 
 it too seriously; but, just for fun, suppose that 
 next year Sally didn't go back to school alone; 
 suppose the Page twins went with her." 
 
 "Auntie Mogs!" Phyllis and Janet exclaimed 
 so loudly that several people in the parlor car 
 turned to look at them, and one old gentleman 
 winked above his open paper. 
 
 "I only said suppose," Auntie Mogs reminded 
 
CHRISTMAS VACATION 177 
 
 them, and she picked up her paper with the most 
 casual air in the world and began to read. 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine what the topic of 
 conversation was during the rest of the trip. In 
 fact, they were still talking about it as they drew 
 in to the station. 
 
 "I hope I see somebody I know!" Janet ex- 
 claimed, as they followed the porter with their 
 bags; "but I don't suppose I wilL It's exciting, 
 just the same; I feel as if I were dreaming," and 
 she sighed happily. 
 
 Dreaming or not, it is certain that she was to- 
 tally unprepared for the sight that awaited her on 
 the little platform. All Old Chester seemed to be 
 waiting to welcome her, and she stood looking at 
 them in a daze. 
 
 The Blake girls and their mother were almost 
 under her feet as she stepped from the train, and 
 Martha was just behind them. Harry Waters 's 
 grin of welcome seemed a thing apart from his 
 freckled face as he took the bags away from the 
 porter, his mother directing him fussily the while. 
 And off, a little to one side, stood Mrs. Todd, tall 
 and mannish as ever, but smiling her heartfelt 
 welcome. 
 
 There was a hub-bub of greetings that lasted for 
 
178 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 several minutes, then Mrs. Todd took command of 
 affairs in her usual masterly way. 
 
 "Come along, Moggie, and call those children or 
 we'll never get home. My carriage is waiting just 
 around the corner; the horses don't like the train, 
 sensible beasts, so Peter had to hold them. I sup- 
 pose he's died of impatience by now though," she 
 added, smiling. 
 
 "Go with Mrs. Todd, dearie," Martha directed 
 as she had always done. "I am going home with 
 Tim and the trunks, and I'll be there before you." 
 
 "All right," Janet agreed, smiling. It did 
 seem good to hear her old nurse's orders again. 
 "Come on, Phyl," she called. 
 
 Phyllis nodded good-by to the Blake girls and 
 joined her. 
 
 "If Sally were here she would call on Aunt 
 Jane's poll parrot to witness the mob," — she 
 laughed. "Aren't you proud, Jan?" 
 
 "Not a bit. Why should I be? They came to 
 welcome you just as much as they did me." 
 
 They joined their aunt and Mrs. Todd and 
 walked to the back of the station, where Harry, 
 with Peter's aid, was stowing away the bags. 
 
 Janet could hardly believe her eyes, for it was 
 a changed Peter indeed. Gone were the faded 
 
CHRISTMAS VACATION 179 
 
 blue overalls and the torn straw hat ; a well-fitting 
 overcoat and a cap took their place, but they did 
 not succeed in hiding the mop of hair or the merry 
 blue eyes. 
 
 "Hello, fairy princess," he greeted and then 
 stopped, confused, as both girls smiled up at him. 
 
 "Well, which are you?" he demanded, and 
 Janet held her breath. Would he, or wouldn't he 
 know her? 
 
 A clear, jolly laugh reassured her. 
 
 "You had me guessing for a minute, but now I 
 know." He took Janet's hand and wrung it. 
 "It's great to see you again," he said, still smil- 
 ing. 
 
 Janet introduced Phyllis and Miss Carter, and 
 they all got into the carriage. 
 
 "Come and see us to-morrow, Harry," Janet 
 called, as they drove off. 
 
 "Morning, you betcha," Harry answered, wav- 
 ing his hat. 
 
 "Child, don't make too many plans," Mrs. Todd 
 warned. "Peter and I have filled up as much of 
 your time as we dared." 
 
 "And we dared an awful lot," Peter added, 
 laughing. "Fact is, I don't think we left you 
 more than a few minutes a day." 
 
180 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 ' ' Oh, tell us what we have to do ? " Janet begged. 
 
 "One thing at a time," Peter replied gravely. 
 "In case you forget, to-morrow, if your Royal 
 Highness so pleases, you are to take lunch with 
 us and inspect your domain. You will find many 
 changes, but I think you will approve of them all." 
 
 "Not the Enchanted Kingdom?" Janet pro- 
 tested. 
 
 "No, that is almost exactly as you left it," 
 Peter assured her. 
 
 "Oh, Jan, I can see the house," Phyllis called, 
 as they left the tiny village behind them, and 
 Janet's heart beat so fast as she recognized the 
 two big chimneys that looked, in the twilight, as 
 though they were swinging the widow's walk be- 
 tween them, that she thought she would surely suf- 
 focate. 
 
 Peter drew up to the old carriage block with a 
 flourish, and they all jumped out. Martha was 
 standing in the doorway to welcome them again. 
 They said good night to Mrs. Todd and Peter, and 
 promised to be ready when the carriage called for 
 them the next day. 
 
 Janet walked up the garden path holding tight 
 to Phyllis 's hand, as though she feared to wake up. 
 Everything in the house was exactly as she had 
 
CHEISTMAS VACATION 181 
 
 left it. The old grandfather clock ticked out its 
 steady song, and the polished table reflected the 
 shining candlesticks as of old. 
 
 Janet looked at her grandmother's door half 
 fearfully. 
 
 "Go upstairs and take off your wraps," Martha 
 was saying, "and then come down. Your grand- 
 mother wants to see you before dinner." 
 
 Janet still held Phyllis 's hand, as a few min- 
 utes later she knocked at that closed door. 
 
 Mrs. Page proped herself up on her elbow and 
 surveyed her two granddaughters; her small 
 bright eyes seemed more restless than ever. They 
 roved all over the room. 
 
 "Well, what have you got to say?" she de- 
 manded in the old querulous tone. 
 
 "How are you, Grandmother?" Janet spoke 
 first, and she laid her hand timidly on the withered 
 one that lay on the white counterpane. 
 
 "Hello, Grandmother; it's awfully nice to see 
 you again. How are you?" Phyllis, undaunted 
 as always, leaned and kissed the withered cheek. 
 
 Mrs. Page laughed, a hard cackling laugh. 
 
 "You're as alike as two peas," she said, "but 
 there's a mighty difference. Janet, you haven't 
 changed much, ' ' she added. 
 
182 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Oh, but I have," Janet insisted, forgetting her 
 self -consciousness for the moment. 
 
 "Well, you don't show it," her grandmother 
 snapped, and before Janet could stop she heard 
 herself saying, "Yes, Grandmother," in the pa- 
 tient, respectful voice she had always used. 
 
 "How do you like us dressed alike?" Phyllis 
 inquired cheerfully. 
 
 "Your hair's mussy," Mrs. Page replied 
 shortly. ' ' Why don 't you braid it ? " 
 
 "Oh, but it's so much more becoming this way," 
 laughed Phyllis. 
 
 "Fiddlesticks!" The word seemed to termi- 
 nate the interview, for after it was uttered Mrs. 
 Page turned over, her face to the wall. 
 
 "Good night, Grandmother," Janet said softly, 
 but Phyllis lingered long enough to ask, 
 
 "Are you quite comfy, dear? Sha'n't I push 
 this pillow so ? " she won a grudging ' ' good night ' ' 
 for her pains. 
 
 After supper the girls went up to the widow's 
 walk. It was a cold, clear night, myriad stars 
 winked down at them from the ice-blue sky, below 
 them the water lapped the beach incessantly, and 
 the foam sparkled in the starshine. 
 
CHEISTMAS VACATION 183 
 
 The girls watched it in silence for a minute, and 
 then Phyllis said, 
 
 "Tell me something, Jan; does New York seem 
 like a dream now that you're back or does Old 
 Chester?" 
 
 "Old Chester does," Janet replied after a lit- 
 tle; "it all seems as though my life here was a 
 million years ago, instead of three short months. 
 I wonder why?" 
 
 "Because you're happier in New Tork, my an- 
 gel child," Phyllis declared happily. "And now 
 let's go down again. I love your widow's walk, 
 but I am frozen to death. ' ' 
 
 They went down together and found Auntie 
 Mogs sitting before the fire in the living-room, 
 roasting chestnuts, while Martha stood in the 
 doorway and offered suggestions and gossip. 
 
 It was late before they went to bed, but when 
 Janet finally fell asleep she was still holding Phyl- 
 lis 's hand in her firm grasp. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER XVm 
 
 THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM 
 
 4 * "y F the ice didn't choke up the inlet I would 
 row you over to your kingdom, Princess," 
 Peter said the next morning, as Janet took 
 her place beside him in the carriage. "It would 
 seem ever so much more like old times, wouldn't 
 it?" 
 
 Janet nodded and laughed. 
 
 ' ' Indeed it would. I wonder where my old row- 
 boat is. I left it on the beach. ' ' 
 
 "And I found it there, very much the worse for 
 wear, and in sad need of a home, ' ' Peter continued 
 for her. "So I towed it over to our landing, and 
 now it is high and dry on the rafters in the barn, 
 along with my canoe. ' ' 
 
 "Oh, Peter, do you remember the day you 
 taught me to paddle?" Janet asked, laughing. 
 
 "I certainly do. I wasn't perfectly sure that 
 we would ever get home again ; that storm came up 
 so suddenly." 
 
 184 
 
THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM 185 
 
 ' ' But we did, just iu time to be arrested. ' ' They 
 both laughed so hard at the memory of that never- 
 to-be-forgotten day that Phyllis, in the back seat 
 with Auntie Mogs, called, 
 
 "What are you two roaring over?" 
 
 "Oh, something funny that happened last sum- 
 mer," Janet replied. 
 
 "Haven't you ever told your sister about it?" 
 Peter inquired, and Janet shook her head. 
 
 "Then I'll tell you, Phyllis," Peter promised; 
 "but I'll wait until we are on the scene of ac- 
 tion." 
 
 "There are a lot of things I want to ask you," 
 ■ — Phyllis laughed, "and a lot of places I want 
 to see. Jan's no good at telling stories, she leaves 
 out all the most interesting part." 
 
 "Well, you shall have a true and minute de- 
 scription from me, never fear," Peter told her. 
 
 "Let me drive," Janet begged a minute later, 
 and Peter changed places with her, and for the 
 rest of the drive he talked to Phyllis and Auntie 
 Mogs, for Janet was too taken up with the spirited 
 team to have any time for conversation. 
 
 The Enchanted Kingdom presented a strangely 
 orderly view. The road was trim and the gravel 
 raked smoothly. The barns and outhouses were 
 
186 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 painted white, and they looked surprisingly clean 
 against the gray sky. The house itself had lost 
 all its rakish and forlorn look, though it retained, 
 in spite of paint, its inviting air of mystery. 
 
 Gone were the dilapidated boards that had 
 barred the windows, and white curtains fluttered 
 in their stead. Green box-trees guarded each side 
 of the white door, whose brass knocker shone in 
 proof of the care lavished upon it. 
 
 "Well, what does the Princess think about it?" 
 Peter demanded, delighted at Janet's look of sur- 
 prise. 
 
 "I'd never have recognized it," she confessed. 
 "What a lot you have done to it!" 
 
 "Come and see the inside. That's the best of 
 all, "Peter told her. 
 
 Mrs. Todd welcomed them from the doorway, 
 and the tour of inspection began at once, for 
 Janet would not hear of taking off her hat and 
 coat until she had seen everything. 
 
 "All right; we'll leave the kingdom till the 
 last," Peter said, as he followed Mrs. Todd from 
 room to room. 
 
 Beautiful old furniture stood where Janet re- 
 membered the sheeted ghosts that had frightened 
 her so many times. Gay chintz curtains vied with 
 
THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM 187 
 
 the copper and brass to liven tire rooms that had 
 always been shrouded in darkness. Upstairs the 
 bedrooms were a happy combination of rag rags 
 and wonderful big beds, some of them so high that 
 steps were necessary. 
 
 Peter had a den adjoining his room, and it was 
 filled with his pet books and pictures. He exhib- 
 ited it with pride, and Janet saw him slip his arm 
 around Mrs. Todd and give her a hug when he 
 thought no one was looking. 
 
 At last only the Enchanted Kingdom remained, 
 and when Janet entered it she found herself alone. 
 Perhaps it was just as well — the sight of the old 
 rows of books, the table and the window-seat 
 where she had spent so many happy hours sent 
 tears to her eyes, and she had to blink hard to keep 
 them from falling. 
 
 She sat on the floor, scorning the comfy chairs, 
 and pulled out book after book ; each one was in its 
 same place, and she patted them all as though they 
 were alive. 
 
 After a long time Peter came in to find her. 
 Mrs. Todd had sent him to tell her that luncheon 
 was ready, but when he found her sitting on the 
 floor, he forgot his message and dropped down 
 beside her. 
 
188 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 They were both very late for luncheon. 
 
 So many things filled the days that followed that 
 a whole volume would be required to chronicle 
 them. Janet and Phyllis liked the day before 
 Christmas best of all. 
 
 Things began early in the morning. 
 
 "Get up, lazy bones!" Janet shook Phyllis, 
 deaf to her protests. "You can't lie in bed this 
 morning," she admonished. 
 
 Phyllis sat up and opened two sleepy eyes and 
 yawned, then, memory asserting itself, she jumped 
 out of bed with one spring. 
 
 "Of course I can't," she cried. "We have to 
 go and get the Christmas tree. I was forgetting. ' ' 
 
 "Look out of the window," Janet directed. 
 
 Phyllis looked. The ground was covered with 
 snow, and the world, as far as she could see any- 
 way, was decked in its Yuletide white. 
 
 They hurried with their dressing and, much to 
 Martha 's concern, with their breakfasts as well. 
 
 "Here they come!" Phyllis cried, "and, oh, 
 Jan, they are in a sleigh. I can hear the bells." 
 
 "Oh, I hoped the snow would be deep enough!" 
 Janet exclaimed; "and it must be. Three cheers 
 for old Jack Frost!" 
 
 They answered Peter's whistle by appearing at 
 
THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM 189 
 
 the door, and he and Jack Belding jumped down 
 from the sleigh to greet them. Jack Belding was 
 a school friend of Peter's. He had come to Old 
 Chester several days before. He was a tall, lanky- 
 youth with nondescript hair and eyes, but a sense 
 of humor that would have assured him a welcome 
 in any company. 
 
 Phyllis and Janet had liked him at once, much 
 to Peter's relief and his own secret satisfaction. 
 He always addressed them as, "You, Janet, or 
 you, Phyllis," and then shut his eyes until the 
 right one came, for he could not tell the one from 
 the other. 
 
 "Was there ever such a day!?" Phyllis d&- 
 manded as she jumped on to the big sleigh with 
 Peter's help. 
 
 "Never in all this world," he replied seriously. 
 
 They started off at a smart gait, stopping at the 
 rectory for Alice and Mildred Blake and at the 
 Waters ' for Harry. Then away they went along 
 an old back road that wound up into the hills. 
 
 When they stopped they were all glad to get 
 out and stretch. The girls walked up and down 
 to get warm, and the boys made short work of 
 chopping down a tall bushy Christmas tree. 
 
 The ride back was exciting, for they had to hold 
 
190 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 the slippery tree on the sleigh and stay on them- 
 selves. As Janet was driving at top speed this 
 was not easy, but they reached the little church at 
 last and carried the tree triumphantly into the 
 Sunday-school room. 
 
 Then they flocked into the rectory for luncheon. 
 Janet and Peter dropped behind. 
 
 "What does it make you think of?" Peter asked, 
 laughing. 
 
 "Don't," Janet pleaded; "it's still too awful to 
 remember. If I thought to-night was going to be 
 anything like that night I would go straight home 
 and go to bed." 
 
 "Don't you worry. It won't, Princess," Peter 
 replied protectingly. 
 
 After luncheon the fun began. They all set to 
 and trimmed the tree, Phyllis, by common consent, 
 was master of ceremonies, and they all hurried 
 to do her bidding. 
 
 "Jack, if you eat all the popcorn strings I don't 
 see what we shall have left for the tree," she com- 
 plained once. 
 
 "Sorry," Jack apologized, "but that's one fail- 
 ing I have ; in fact, I might add that it is the only 
 one, without fear of boasting. Put me near a 
 string of popcorn and I just naturally find myself 
 
THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM 191 
 
 eating it, and the funny thing is I don't like it un- 
 less it is strung." He spoke with such gravity 
 that the rest shouted with laughter. 
 
 "Very well," said Phyllis, "we will put you 
 beyond temptation's way. Go out and bring me 
 back a whole lot of boughs. I want them for the 
 chancel." 
 
 "Do you mean it?" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "Very well, but if I am frozen I hope you have 
 the grace to be ashamed of your heartlessness. " 
 
 "Oh, I promise I'll be terribly ashamed," Phyl- 
 lis called after him, as he walked dejectedly from 
 the room. 
 
 When the tree was finished, and the church had 
 been decked with boughs and holly, they all went 
 home for a well-merited rest. The crown-event of 
 the day was still before them. 
 
 A party at the Enchanted Kingdom to which all 
 the countryside had been bidden. 
 
 And it was a party indeed ! 
 
 Nothing could have been so totally different 
 from Muriel's masquerade, yet it rivaled it in 
 fun. Phyllis and Janet wore dresses exactly 
 alike, and had the joy of playing their old tricks 
 on a new company. 
 
192 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 They danced and played games until twelve 
 o'clock, and then Peter and Jack took them home 
 in the sleigh. 
 
 On Christmas Day they went again to Mrs. 
 Todd's and found all their gifts piled up under 
 their little tree. Auntie Mogs had sent over even 
 the New York presents and the ones from Tom. 
 
 One little box for Phyllis was the greatest sur- 
 prise of all. It contained a very beautiful brace- 
 let set with a single large sapphire, and tied to it 
 was a card which read — 
 
 "Merry Christmas to my girl, from Don" 
 
 "The darling," Phyllis said happily as she 
 clasped it over her arm; "what a wonderful gift!" 
 
 "Indeed it is, my dear," Auntie Mogs agreed, 
 "but" — she added with a smile, "I think you de- 
 serve it." 
 
 Jack looked at it gleefully. "Ha, ha!" he ex- 
 claimed, "now I can tell them apart!" 
 
 He spoke with pride, but his fall was not far off, 
 for before many minutes had passed Phyllis had 
 slipped the bracelet to Janet, and his confusion 
 was worse than ever. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 PHYLLIS 's "MATH" PAPEB 
 
 EXAMINATION week had come. Every 
 face in the big study hall gave ample proof 
 to the fact. Bowed heads and narrowed 
 eyes pored over open text-books, and a strained 
 and unnatural silence hung over the room. 
 
 Even in the ten-minute recess only whispers 
 could be heard, and most of the heads kept on over 
 their books. 
 
 "Sally's Aunt Jane's poll parrot," Phyllis 
 whispered. "I haven't a chance in a thousand of 
 passing math. I wouldn't mind so much if I 
 didn't know that Ducky Lucky will be delighted. 
 How do you feel, Jan ? ' ' 
 
 "Scared to death," Janet admitted. "My 
 hands are frozen, and my tongue is sticking to the 
 roof of my mouth." 
 
 "Oh, I wish you'd keep still," Muriel fretted. 
 "I'm trying to study." 
 
 "What's the use?" Eosamond asked. "You 
 
 193 
 
194 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 can't learn things at the last minute, so why try?" 
 
 Muriel put her fingers in her ears and bowed 
 again over her book. 
 
 The bell rang, and every girl gave a deep sigh. 
 It was partly relief and partly dread. 
 
 Miss Baxter entered the room, her arms full of 
 papers. 
 
 "She's having the time of her life," Phyllis said 
 crossly. "I bet she flunks every one of us." 
 
 The papers were distributed to the various 
 classes, and Miss Baxter took her place on the 
 platform. A heavy silence descended upon the 
 room, only broken by the scratching of many pen 
 points. Miss Baxter insisted in having her pa- 
 pers written in ink and written neatly; the combi- 
 nation was not always easy to achieve. 
 
 Phyllis, who had moved her seat half way across 
 the room, surveyed the questions before her in dis- 
 may. There did not appear to be one out of the 
 ten that she could do. She buried her head in her 
 hands and waited for an inspiration. None came, 
 and she looked over at Janet. 
 
 "She looks as though she positively liked it," 
 she said to herself. "Well, I suppose I might as 
 well do something." 
 
 She settled to work and scratched away for two 
 
PHYLLIS 'S "MATH" PAPER 195 
 
 long hours. She knew she was making mistakes, 
 but she went ahead, determined to have a filled 
 and neatly written paper if nothing else. 
 
 She had finished long before Janet, but she 
 waited until she saw her folding her paper before 
 she signed her name to her own. They followed 
 each other to the desk, Miss Baxter not at all sure 
 which was which. 
 
 "Well?" Phyllis demanded as they met in the 
 hall. 
 
 "Well, what?" Janet inquired. 
 
 "Did you flunk?" 
 
 "I don't believe so; it was easy." 
 
 "Easy!" 
 
 "I thought so, anyway. I answered them all, 
 and they seemed to work out right." 
 
 "Hum." 
 
 "What's the trouble?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing, only I flunked." 
 
 "How do you know?" 
 
 "Because I just wrote numbers." 
 
 ' ' Oh, well, cheer up. Maybe they were the rigls* 
 numbers." Janet was determined to be cheerful. 
 She had found the examination much easier than 
 she had expected and she felt reasonably sure that 
 she had passed. 
 
196 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "I don't much care; we've the rest of the day to 
 ourselves anyway; let's go home." Phyllis made 
 the suggestion light heartedly enough, for lessons 
 never worried her for very long and mathematics 
 least of all. 
 
 They walked home through the park and met 
 Don. He was chasing brownies as usual, and poor 
 Nannie was finding it difficult to keep up with him. 
 She never let him out of her sight for even an in- 
 stant, and every man that passed was a possible 
 kidnapper in her old eyes. 
 
 Don greeted the girls with joy. 
 
 "I were chasing a brownie!" he exclaimed, 
 "but he got away from me." 
 
 He took Phyllis by the hand and led her to- 
 wards the lake. Janet sat down on the bench be- 
 side his nurse. 
 
 "Why does Don always say were, instead of 
 was?" she inquired. 
 
 " 'Deed, miss, that's his father's fault," Nan- 
 nie replied. ' ' One day Master Don said ' they was 
 going' and his father picked him up on his lap and 
 he said to him, said he, 'Don, never say was, say 
 were.' The poor lamb was so startled that he 
 never forgot, and I can't make him change for the 
 life of me." 
 
PHYLLIS 'S "MATH" PAPER 197 
 
 "Don't try," Janet laughed; "it's awfully cun- 
 ning to hear him say were! I hope he never 
 changes." 
 
 Phyllis came hack, a brown leaf in her hand, and 
 Don tugging at her skirts. 
 
 "Here we are, Nannie, all safe and sound, and 
 we caught the brownie." She gave the leaf to 
 Don, and she and Janet went on their way. 
 
 "Let's stop and see Akbar," Phyllis suggested. 
 
 "I knew you'd say that,"- Janet laughed. 
 "What makes you so fond of that animal." 
 
 "Oh, I don't know; he always makes me want 
 to do something with my hands." 
 
 "Paint!" 
 
 "No, I don't think so." 
 
 "Mold, perhaps?" Janet asked the question 
 idly, but Phyllis spun around and stopped as she 
 heard it. 
 
 "That's it!" she cried excitedly. "I want to 
 mold him. I never realized it until this minute. 
 Come on, let's hurry home. There's some putty 
 in the cellar and I'm going to try." 
 
 Janet, used to her twin's sudden whims, fol- 
 lowed in amused silence. 
 
 When they reached home they found a letter 
 from Sally awaiting them. 
 
198 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 "Oh, read it quick!" Phyllis exclaimed. "No, 
 wait a minute. Let's go up to the snuggery and 
 get comfy." She went off to find some putty and 
 joined Janet a few minutes later. 
 
 "Now read," she said, as she cuddled down into 
 the corner of the couch. 
 
 Janet opened the letter and began, 
 
 "Dearest of Twins (she read) : 
 
 "I am in the infirmary, pretending to have a 
 cold but don't waste time worrying about me for 
 it's all a fake to get a chance to breathe, which is 
 something that I find you are not supposed to do 
 at Hilltop (isn't that a precious name for a school? 
 I like it better every time I think of it), except 
 when you sleep. 
 
 "I know you both think me a heartless wretch 
 for not having written oftener, but honestly I 
 haven't time. It is go, go, go, from morning till 
 night. I used to think we kept pretty busy but we 
 were tortoises compared to the rate here. Up 
 every morning at seven, lessons begin at nine, 
 lunch is at twelve-thirty; more lessons until two, 
 and then the rest of the day is yours. No study 
 hours unless you are reported by some teacher 
 
PHYLLIS 'S "MATH" PAPER 199 
 
 for not being prepared, then the wrath of the gods 
 descends upon your head and you are packed off 
 to Assembly Hall and made to work for two hours 
 a day for a whole week. You may better believe 
 that we study to keep our blessed privilege. 
 
 "The girls have a joke on me, and they tease all 
 the time. I said Aunt Jane's poll parrot just 
 once. That was enough ! They pretend now that 
 there is such a bird and that I keep him hidden in 
 my room. They ask after his health morning, 
 noon and night, and ask me quite seriously to con- 
 sult him. Even the teachers do it. I nearly died 
 in history class when Miss Jenks, a love and noth- 
 ing but a girl, just out of college, asked me the 
 date of the Battle of Hastings, I couldn't remem- 
 ber and she looked at me so impishly and said, 
 'Better ask Aunt Jane's poll parrot.' Imagine 
 Ducky Lucky doing such a thing. 
 
 "I haven't told you one thing that I wanted to 
 and this letter is all one grand jumble, but I'll try 
 to do better next time. 
 
 "You simply must come next year; must, must, 
 must. I've written Mother to persuade your 
 aunt, and she has promised to try. 
 
 "Write soon and forgive blots. One of the 
 
200 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 girls is reading over my shoulder and she says to 
 blame the blots on Aunt Jane's poll parrot, and to 
 be sure and come next year. 
 
 "Oceans of love, 
 
 "Sally." 
 
 Janet folded up the letter and laughed softly. 
 
 "Sounds wonderful, doesn't it!" 
 
 Phyllis stop trying to produce Akbar's image 
 in putty long enough to reply. 
 
 "I should say it does. No study hours ! What 
 bliss ! Auntie Mogs simply has to let us go ! " she 
 exclaimed. "And what is better still, no Ducky 
 Lucky! I wish I knew if our papers were cor- 
 rected or not." 
 
 She would have been more than surprised had 
 she known what was going on at that very mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Miss Baxter was busy correcting papers. She 
 finished Janet's and marked it with a big red B; 
 then the fates stepped in. Miss Baxter was called 
 to the telephone. When she returned to her desk 
 the paper next for correction happened to be Phyl- 
 lis 's. Miss Baxter saw the name and frowned; 
 she always frowned when she thought of the twins. 
 
 "Funny," she said to herself. "I thought I 
 
PHYLLIS'S "MATH" PAPEE 201 
 
 corrected this paper. So I did and I decided to 
 give it a B. The telephone confused me." 
 
 With her usual precision she marked a B on 
 the right-hand corner of the paper and pushed it 
 from her. 
 
 Phyllis gazed at it the next morning in joyful 
 surprise. Had she been any one but Phyllis she 
 would have at least glanced at her mistakes, but 
 being Phyllis, she accepted her good luck with joy 
 and threw the paper into the waste-paper basket. 
 Not seeing Miss Baxter's mistake, she could not 
 draw her attention to it. 
 
 So the Page twins tricked Miss Baxter once 
 again, and the joke was no less amusing because 
 of their ignorance. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE FAJBEWELL PAETT 
 
 SPRING made an early appearance in New 
 York and decked itself more charmingly 
 than ever. The trees showed tiny green 
 buds, and the grass freshened under the warm 
 showers, almost as you looked. 
 
 Jonquils and crocuses appeared to welcome the 
 fat robins that returned to their nests, and all 
 Nature hummed and fluttered in its eager prepa- 
 rations. 
 
 Janet and Phyllis were busy planning a fare- 
 well party, as they sat in the sunshine in the park 
 one Sunday morning. 
 
 "If we could only think of something different 
 to do," Phyllis wailed. "I am so tired of dances 
 and skating parties and afternoon teas. "We've 
 been going to them all winter." 
 
 "I know," Janet agreed, "but what else is there 
 to do?" 
 
 "Nothing, I suppose," Phyllis replied. "So 
 which shall it be?" 
 
 202 
 
THE FAEEWELL PAETY 203 
 
 "I don't know," — Janet refused to decide. 
 "Let's ask Auntie Mogs." 
 
 "No, let's make up our own minds," Phyllis in- 
 sisted. "If we were only at Old Chester we could 
 have a picnic." 
 
 "But there 'd be no one to go to it but Harry 
 Waters and the Blakes," Janet reminded her. 
 
 "That's right, I forgot Peter and Jack are at 
 school; but anyhow a picnic would be fun." 
 
 "Where could you have one around here!" 
 Janet demanded, practical as ever. 
 
 Phyllis looked at her disapprovingly. 
 
 "Jan, you're a wet blanket!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "I'm not. I'm only trying to be sensible." 
 
 "Well, stop; it's too gorgeous a day to be any- 
 thing but happy, so don't let's bother about that 
 stupid party any more. ' ' 
 
 "What party was ever stupid, may I ask?" a 
 voice inquired from above them, and they looked 
 up to see Mr. Keith. 
 
 They made room for him on the bench, and he 
 sat down between them. 
 
 "Tell me about the stupid party," he invited. 
 
 "It isn't one really," Janet explained; "it's 
 just going to be." 
 
 "We're going to give it," Phyllis continued, 
 
204 PHYUJS, A TWIN 
 
 "and it's going to be stupid because we can't think 
 of anything to do that hasn't been done a million 
 times before." 
 
 Mr. Keith's eyes twinkled, but he answered very 
 gravely: 
 
 "I see." 
 
 "A picnic would be wonderful this weather, but 
 there's no place to have a picnic in the city," Phyl- 
 lis went on dejectedly. 
 
 "Quite so," Mr. Keith agreed; "let's all think 
 for two minutes and then see who has an idea." 
 
 They thought, and at the end of the two minutes 
 he said, 
 
 "Any ideas?" 
 
 "Not a one." 
 
 "Worse than ever." 
 
 Mr. Keith smiled and stood up. 
 
 "Then I have a suggestion to make," he said. 
 "When is this party to be?" 
 
 "A week from yesterday," Phyllis told him. 
 
 "Then don't make any plans until you hear 
 from me. I will think hard all day, and to-mor- 
 row sometime I will call you up, and now I must 
 go and find Don. I promised to watch him sail 
 his boat." He lifted his silk hat and walked 
 away, humming a little tune. 
 
THE FAEEWELL PAETY 205 
 
 "I like him, ever so much," Janet said as she 
 •watched him. 
 
 "I adore him!" Phyllis exclaimed. "He's a 
 perfect darling, but then he's Don's father, so 
 he'd have to be." 
 
 The promised 'phone message did not come un- 
 til Monday evening after dinner. The girls made 
 up their minds that he had forgotten all about 
 them, and had started new plans. 
 
 Phyllis answered the 'phone. 
 
 "Am I speaking to the Page twins?" a voice 
 asked. 
 
 "Part of them," Phyllis laughed. 
 
 "Well, I have a message for them both. They 
 are to be ready to go on a picnic Saturday morn- 
 ing at ten o'clock." 
 
 "Oh, but—" gasped Phyllis. 
 
 "And in the meantime they are not to worry 
 about their guests. They have all been invited 
 and they have all accepted," the voice went on, 
 "and they are not to worry about food either, for 
 the luncheon has all been attended to. ' ' The voice 
 stopped. 
 
 "Is that you, Mr. Keith?" Phyllis demanded, 
 but a laughing "good night" was her only answer. 
 
 She flew back to the snuggery to tell Janet the 
 
206 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 news, and they both went down to the library to 
 tell Auntie Mogs. She did not look as surprised 
 as she might have been expected to, but they were 
 too excited to notice that. 
 
 "What do you suppose he means?" Phyllis de- 
 manded. "Where can we be going?" 
 
 "Auntie Mogs, do say something," Janet 
 begged. 
 
 "Wait and see," — Miss Carter laughed, and 
 they had to be content with that. 
 
 Saturday dawned clear and warm; the sun 
 beamed and spread his rays to the farthest corner 
 of the sky. It looked as though some one had or- 
 dered a day for a picnic, and Dame Nature had 
 done her best to satisfy them. 
 
 At ten o'clock the girls heard loud tootings, 
 and Janet, who was putting on her hat, hurried 
 to the window. 
 
 "Oh, Phyl, do look; three automobiles full of 
 every girl and boy you ever knew." 
 
 They rushed downstairs, and Mr. Keith met 
 them at the door. 
 
 ' ' All ready ? " he inquired. ' ' Come along, Miss 
 Carter; we will lead the way." 
 
 The girls were too excited to answer. They fol- 
 lowed their aunt to the waiting cars, where a bab- 
 
THE FAREWELL PAETY 207 
 
 ble of greetings met them. Mr. Keith helped Miss 
 Carter into the first one, and the girls into the 
 second. 
 
 "Go ahead," he called to the chauffeurs, and 
 jumped in after them. 
 
 Phyllis could see that Mrs. Vincent was in the 
 last car. She smiled and waved to her. 
 
 Daphne and Chuck and Jerry and Howard were 
 in their car, and they squeezed up to make room 
 for Janet and Phyllis. Mr. Keith sat in the front 
 beside the driver. 
 
 A buzz of questions and speculations rose from 
 every car, but no one seemed to have the least idea 
 where they were going. 
 
 They picked their way carefully through the 
 city streets, but once in the country they flew 
 along. Towns whizzed by, and at last they slowed 
 up for Poughkeepsie, crossed the river on the 
 ferry, and snorted up the hill on the other side. 
 
 As they reached the top of a hill and began the 
 descent everybody said "Oooooh," for beneath 
 them and on every side was a veritable fairyland 
 of apple blossoms. 
 
 They stopped at an old farmhouse, and all 
 jumped out to find the picnic spread out for them 
 under the apple trees. Chicken, salads, tarts and 
 
208 PHYLLIS, A TWIN 
 
 every kind of fruit covered the white cloth, and the 
 air had whipped their appetites into being. They 
 needed no second invitation but threw themselves 
 on to the ground and did justice to the tempting 
 repast. 
 
 After luncheon they wandered about under the 
 trees until it was time to go home. 
 
 As each guest passed Mrs. Vincent before they 
 got into the motors, she gave them each a box. 
 They opened them in surprise, that turned quickly 
 to exclamations of delight as they gazed at the 
 contents. 
 
 Tiny gold butterflies and enameled wings for 
 the girls and stick pins with bumble bees in black 
 and gold for the boys. On the back of each pin 
 was the date and Janet's and Phyllis 's initials. 
 
 The girls were so excited watching their guests' 
 delight that they forgot to open their own boxes 
 until Daphne reminded them of them. 
 
 "I know yours will be different," she said. 
 
 They opened them to find butterflies, like the 
 rest, but twice as large. On the back was in- 
 scribed, "In memory of the stupid party." 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Keith, how are we ever going to thank 
 you ! ' ' Janet exclaimed. 
 
 "It has been the most beautiful stupid party 
 
THE FAEEWELL PAETY 209 
 
 that ever was," Phyllis added. "Oh, please, 
 please, believe that we are truly grateful." 
 
 "Nonsense," laughed Mr. Keith. "You forget 
 I am still heavily in your debt, and to-day has only 
 added to that indebtedness, for I can honestly say 
 I never enjoyed a picnic as much as this in all my 
 life." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 AUNTIE MOGS looked up from her mail at 
 the breakfast table and smiled at Phyllis 
 and Janet as they took their places, one 
 on either side of her. 
 
 "Here is something that may interest you," 
 and she held out two letters. 
 Phyllis took one and Janet the other. 
 "It's from Tommy; do listen," — Phyllis almost 
 knocked over the cream pitcher in her excitement. 
 
 "Dear family" — (she read) 
 
 "I am expecting you on the fourteenth of this 
 month and may the date hurry up and get here. I 
 will meet you at the station, prepared for your 
 luggage and live stock. Don't get lost on the way, 
 please, as this West is rather large and I might 
 have difficulty in finding you. 
 
 ' ' The conductor will see that you change at the 
 
 junction and don't forget that you get out at 
 
 Quantos. 
 
 210 
 
CONCLUSION 211 
 
 "My ranch is so clean that it doesn't know it- 
 self, and some of my cowhoys are laying in a stock 
 of new collars in honor of your arrival. But none 
 of them can compare with the pleasure that I get 
 out of every minute of the day when I think that 
 you will soon be with me. 
 
 "Your affectionate nephew and brother, 
 
 "Tom." 
 
 Janet held up her envelope and shook it. Tick- 
 ets, yards long it seemed, fell out on to the table 
 cloth. 
 
 "We are really going," they said together, and 
 they looked straight into each other's eyes across 
 the table. 
 
 Perhaps they saw the joys of the coming sum- 
 mer, mirrored in their brown depths. Who 
 knows! 
 
 THE END 
 
Thislsn'b All! 
 
 Would you like to know what 
 became of the good friends you 
 have made in this book? 
 
 Would you like to read other 
 stories continuing their adventures 
 and experiences, or other books 
 quite as entertaining by the same 
 author? 
 
 On the reverse side of the wrap- 
 per which comes with this book, 
 you will find a wonderful list of 
 stories which you can buy at the 
 same store where you got this book. 
 
 Don't throw away the Wrapper 
 
 Use it as a handy catalog of the books 
 you want some day to have. 'But in 
 case you do mislay it, write to the 
 'Publishers for a complete catalog.