CHAPTER XVI

A DAY TOGETHER

Janet kept her eyes tight closed the next morning, long after she was awake. She was afraid to open them lest the memories that had crowded into her consciousness should prove to be only dreams. Phyllis was dancing inside of her eyelids, and she smiled at her and closed her eyes tighter to keep her there.

After a long while she turned over very quietly and listened. Some one was breathing softly on the other side of the big bed. She opened her eyes very slowly and found herself looking straight into Phyllis's merry ones.

They both laughed. Janet from relief, Phyllis from sheer joy.

"I've been watching you for perfect hours. I thought you were never going to wake up. I very nearly pinched you," Phyllis exclaimed. "Isn't it time to get up!"

"Yes, it's late, and, thank goodness, it's a beautiful day," Janet replied.

Phyllis bounded out of bed and pulled all the covers off of Janet.

"Get up, you sleepy head, and I'll race you getting dressed!" she challenged.

Janet was up in a second and clothes flew in every direction. Martha had left a big can of hot water in the hall outside their door, and Phyllis was giggling so hard when she tried to pour it into the basin that she splashed some of it on her bare toes.

"Cricky, but that hurts!" she cried, sitting down on the side of the bed to nurse it. Sir Galahad got up from his basket by the window to come over and see what all the noise was about, and at the same time Boru pushed open the door with his black muzzle.

For an instant the two animals looked at each other, then Boru growled and Sir Galahad arched his back and hissed. Janet and Phyllis just caught them in time to avoid a scrap.

Sir Galahad went back in his basket, and the lid was closed and Boru was shut out into the hall.

"What under the sun are we going to do with those two!" Phyllis demanded.

"They will just have to get used to each other, but I'm afraid it won't be easy," Janet replied. "Boru hates cats."

They finished their dressing and consulted Tom at breakfast.

"I tell you what to do," he suggested. "You both go off somewhere this morning and leave the live stock with me, when you come back they will both be eating out of the same dish."

Janet and Phyllis exchanged glances and shook their heads doubtfully, but they decided to let him try, after they had made him solemnly promise not to let any harm come to either of them.

"Where shall we go!" Phyllis demanded. "Shall we take a walk!"

"We might take a drive," Janet suggested. "Mrs. Todd sent me word that I could have Clinker whenever I wanted him."

"Of course, that's the very thing!" Phyllis enthused. "He is at the rectory, isn't he! Let's go this very instant. I'm crazy to see those Blake girls."

Janet had an unhappy moment of doubt. Suppose Phyllis liked the Blakes, what would she do then? But she led the way to the village. She only showed that she was worried by being a little quieter than usual. As Phyllis talked all the way, her silence was not noticeable.

Alice and Mildred must have seen them coming down Main Street, for they were at the gate to meet them. Janet introduced them and waited. She expected Phyllis to enthuse as she had been doing ever since her arrival, but a surprise awaited her.

From the laughing, bright-eyed youngster Phyllis changed all in the twinkling of an eye into a quiet self-possessed girl.

"How do you do? I'm very glad to meet you." She shook hands with Alice and nodded carelessly to Mildred.

"We are going for a drive," she went on, still walking toward the barn. "That is, Janet is going to do the driving, and I am going to watch her in real envy."

"Don't you know how to drive?" Alice inquired. "Mildred and I really don't care for it, we've done so much of it."

Janet watched Phyllis and waited, wondering what she would say to such a silly snubbing.

Phyllis looked at both the girls before her and a roguish grin tilted up the corners of her mouth, and then she laughed. It was a merry little laugh, but it made Alice feel very small and very uncomfortable so that she would have given almost anything not to have made her last silly remark.

"Aren't you coming in!" Mildred asked hastily. "We'd love to have you."

"Not just now, thanks; we are going for a drive, you see." Phyllis smiled and followed Janet into the barn, where the hired man was already harnessing Clinker. Alice and Mildred stayed and talked until they were ready to go.

"You'll stop in on your way back, won't you?" Alice almost begged.

"Oh, thanks, we will if we have time," Phyllis replied sweetly.

Once on the main road and bowling along briskly, she laughed.

"No wonder you don't like them!" she exclaimed. "Of all the sillies! Why, Janet, they are what old-fashioned books call stuck up." She laughed until the tears rolled down her cheeks. "I wish we could have them at school for about a month; they would learn so many things, and how I'd love to help teach them."

"If you think they're funny, what must you think of me?" Janet spoke, without thinking and regretted it at once.

Phyllis eyed her reproachfully. "I don't think that's a very nice thing to say to your sister," she said slowly. "How could I think you anything but the most wonderful girl in the world when I've been longing for you all these years."

"Longing for me?" Janet queried in surprise.

"Yes, longing for you!" Phyllis returned with spirit, "and that's more than you can say about me."

"It's no such thing," Janet denied hotly. "I have wanted a sister always. Why, I wrote Tom and told him I wished he'd been a girl instead of a boy."

"Oh, you darling, did you really?" Phyllis returned to her gay self in a flash. "Isn't it just like a story? I wanting you, oh, so much, and you wanting me, and now here we are. I don't see what in the world we are fussing about, do you?"

"Then let's stop," Janet said wisely. "Shall I drive you to Mrs. Todd's house?"

"Yes, do; I want to see the big room you were telling me about. Auntie Mogs has a lovely library, so you won't miss your Kingdom so very much when you come to town."

"Come to town?" Janet inquired. "But I'm not going to town, am I?"

"Of course you are," Phyllis insisted. "I heard Tommy and Auntie Mogs talking about it on the train and again this morning. Gracious, you don't suppose that now I've found you I'm going to ever let you out of my sight, do you?"

"But how can I go to town?"

"Well, why in the world can't you?"

"But grandmother?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Tommy will take care of it. Anyway you're coming, and we are going to school together; and, oh, Janet,"--Phyllis broke off impatiently--"aren't you the least little bit excited about it?"

"Excited! I could scream from excitement only I'm breathless, and my mind is all upside down," Janet replied, laughing.

"Well, thank goodness!"--Phyllis was comforted. "I was afraid you really didn't want to come, and I was just having fits, for of course I told all the girls about you, and they are nearly as excited as I am. Where have you been going to school? I asked Tommy, but he didn't know."

"I've never been to school, real school, in my life," Janet confessed. "Grandmother has always had a tutor come every day from Swanet--that's the next town to us. I don't suppose I know very much and I'll probably be years behind you, but perhaps I can catch up."

"Years behind! Nonsense, I haven't any brains," Phyllis said, "and I don't really care very much. The girls at school that are really brainy are awfully stupid; that is--oh, you know what I mean."

They were passing the Simpsons' house by now, and Janet saw a familiar figure standing in the roadway.

"Why, what do you suppose Harry Waters is doing so far from home?" she inquired.

Phyllis looked and laughed. "Oh, that's the fat boy we saw last night, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I never knew him to walk as far as this before,"--Janet was puzzled.

"Let's give him a lift back," Phyllis suggested.

Janet called, and Harry waved in reply, but he did not come out to them.

"He's bashful," Janet laughed. "I'll chase him." She turned Clinker in at the gate, and although Harry did his best to retreat to the barn, they were soon beside him.

"This is my sister Phyllis," Janet said. "Don't you want to drive back with us?"

Harry hung his head and mumbled something about walking.

"What are you doing over here anyway?" Janet inquired.

"Nothing," Harry replied sulkily.

"Good." Phyllis spoke for the first time. "Then there is no reason why you can't ride home with us; we were going on a little farther but we can do that another day, can't we, Janet?"

It was a new idea to Janet to put off going to the Enchanted Kingdom for the sake of Harry's company, but she nodded and let down the flap of the cart and Harry jumped in without another word.

Phyllis turned her back to the horse and talked to him, though it must be admitted it was a one-sided conversation, for Harry refused to say more than "yes" or "no" in answer to her numerous questions.

Janet, who knew him better than he knew himself, realized that he was angry, but she was too much occupied with her driving to give any assistance to Phyllis.

When they reached the edge of the village Harry insisted upon jumping down, and before they realized it he was lost to view in the scrub oak by the side of the road.

Phyllis turned around with an ejaculation of amazement.

"Did you ever see such an extraordinary boy? What do you suppose is the matter with him?"

Janet laughed.

"I can't imagine; it isn't like Harry to be mysterious," she said.

"I thought I'd have to laugh the way he sat there and glowered at me." Phyllis was frankly surprised that any one could withstand her charms.

"Well," she added with a sigh, "I suppose, now that we have spoiled our chances of going to your Enchanted Kingdom we may as well stop in to say how do you do to the Blakes."

Janet was not enthusiastic over the proposal, but she agreed, with a nod, and after Clinker was safely in the barn they went around to the front porch and rang the bell.

Alice came to the door. She was delighted to see them, and it was evident she had not expected them to return so soon. She ushered them into the living-room where a cheery fire was blazing in the fireplace. Mrs. Blake and Mildred were sewing before it, and Mrs. Blake greeted the girls with her usual sweet manner.

They stayed until lunch time, and when they left they had given their promise to return the next day at four o'clock.

"We are not going to have a party," Mrs. Blake assured them, "but we want to ask some of the ladies in to meet you and your aunt," she spoke to Phyllis.

"Are all the girls in Old Chester like the Blakes?" Phyllis inquired, laughing.

Janet made a little face.

"They are," she replied dismally.

Phyllis put her arm around her and hugged her tight.

"You poor darling," she said; "no wonder you wanted a sister. Well, you've got one, and we'll have a good time at their party. You see if we won't."

When they reached home a comical tableau greeted them. Tom was sitting on the stone bench in the garden holding a plate of milk between his knees. From one side Sir Galahad lapped daintily and from the other, one ear cocked suspiciously, Boru's pink tongue was greedily bespattering his black muzzle.