CHAPTER XIX

TWINS INDEED

Janet and Phyllis stood in the middle of Janet's room and looked at each other. There was nothing apparently that was strange in their appearance. One had on a dark blue, chiffon, afternoon dress and the other a white piqué with a black belt.

They joined hands and stood before the mirror, and then they both began to laugh very hard. Boru, who had been dozing on the floor in a patch of sunlight, got up and came over to them. A keen observer might have thought it odd that he chose the blue chiffon dress to rub up against instead of the white one.

[Illustration: A keen observer might have thought it odd that he chose the blue chiffon dress to rub against instead of the white one.]

Phyllis noticed it and laughed again.

"Funny how fond Boru is of me, isn't it?" she asked. Then they went down stairs together.

Auntie Mogs was busy arranging some flowers in a bowl.

"Phyllis, help me with these, will you, dear!"

The white dress stepped forward and then stood still, and the blue chiffon was soon bending over the table.

Martha came into the room, carrying a plate of tea biscuits.

"Put these on the side table, Miss Janet, please," she said, and the white dress did as she asked.

"What is the matter with you children!" Auntie Mogs asked. "You are so quiet."

"Nothing at all," they both answered together.

Tom came in and looked around hurriedly.

"Nobody here yet! Then I'm going to have a cooky, a piece of cake and some candy. Janet, dear little sister of mine, give me one of those biscuits, or two if you insist." The white dress offered him the plate and two brown eyes looked at him hard as he helped himself. But he filled his pockets unconcernedly and turned toward the table.

"Phyllis, other little sister of mine, have you a flower for my button hole! I'm not going to be at your party, but I want to look festive none the less."

The blue dress stood very close to him as the flower was carefully poked into place.

"You are both very quiet this afternoon, it seems to me," he observed critically, looking from one to the other. "What's the matter?"

The girls began to laugh, and they kept it up until they had to lean on each other for support.

"Well, evidently something is very wrong indeed, but I didn't mean to remind you of it. Are you going to do this often during the afternoon?"

Only suppressed gurgles answered him, and he marched off to his own room in disgust.

It was not long before the guests began to arrive.

Miss Carter met them at the door, and the girls both shook hands with each one and then went off for tea or cake, and each time the guest said, "Thank you, Janet," to the white dress, and "That's very sweet of you," to the blue one. And every now and then both girls would disappear into the hall, laugh silently and return to their posts.

The Blakes were among the first arrivals, and Mrs. Todd was with them. Mildred and Alice were a little surprised that the wearer of the white dress came up to them and said "hello!" in the friendliest way.

"Will you have a cup of tea and a biscuit? You ought to be hungry after that long walk, or did you drive over? Oh, but of course you didn't; I forgot you were tired of driving." The white dress fluttered away to return a minute later with tea.

"Here you are; can you manage all the plates?"

"Why, of course," Mildred replied. "How nice it must be for you to have your sister here," she said, smiling.

"Oh, it is rather nice."

"Rather nice!" Alice exclaimed. "I should think it would be a perfect blessing."

"Now, why a blessing?"

"Why--why because it is some one for you to be with." Alice was amazed. "You must have been awfully lonely before she came?"

"Lonely--I? How silly!"

"Well, but you never went with any of the girls except us now and again, and naturally every one thought you must be lonely. Alice isn't the only one who thought so," Mildred said vehemently.

"Then every one was wrong. I never was lonely for a minute. I had too many things to think about. Of course it is nice having a sister that understands you, but even without her I would not be lonely." The white dress drifted away at a sign from the hostess, and Alice and Mildred were left looking at each other in pained surprise. They were wearing their hair rolled up and tied at the back of their necks for the first time, and they couldn't imagine why Janet had said nothing about it.

"How queer she is to-day," Mildred said.

"And to think we always thought of her as lonely! I guess she didn't come to see us any oftener because she didn't want to," Alice replied.

Across the room, Miss Clark was talking to the wearer of the blue dress.

"Isn't it beautiful to think of your being here with Janet?" she exclaimed.

"Yes, it is splendid."

"I suppose you will be carrying her back to the dreadful city with you before long?"

"Yes, I think we will go in a few weeks. School begins, you see, and we mustn't be too late getting back."

"What a change it will be for dear Janet!" Miss Clark continued. "I can't say I altogether approve."

"But why?"

"Well, it will change her, and I hate to think of her getting cityfied and filling her head with notions." Miss Clark did not specify just exactly what notions were.

"Of course you are very dear and sweet," she continued, "but you are not at all like our Janet; though you look very much alike, I would never confuse you for an instant."

"Are you quite sure!"

"Indeed I am, and I don't want to hurt your feelings when I say that I hope you will not let Janet change too much."

"Why, I think it will do her good to go to the city. She will meet lots of nice girls and go to school, and certainly anything would be better than being alone so much of the time as she is here. I hope she learns to be like other girls when she gets to town."

"Ah, well, I am afraid I can't agree with you," Miss Clark said sadly. The blue dress hurried off to pass the cake to Mrs. Todd, who was sitting alone in a corner.

"Stay with me, child," Mrs. Todd said when she had helped herself. "I want to look at you. I thought this afternoon that you were like your father in manner,"--her blue eyes searched the brown ones. Suddenly she frowned. "Hello, that's odd. No, I can't be wrong. You little imps you, you've--"

"Oh, do hush, please; some one might hear you, and not a soul has even suspected, not even Auntie Mogs. How did you guess?" Janet demanded.

"Eyes," Mrs. Todd said shortly. "Yours have little tiny flecks of gold in them, like your mother's. Phyllis's are clearer, less dreamy, like her father's. I won't give you away."

"Oh, thanks; you can't imagine what fun it is. I am hearing all sorts of things about myself, and I can't wait to compare notes with Phyllis."

Opportunity came a little later when they met in the kitchen. Phyllis repeated her numerous conversations, and Janet told her that Mrs. Todd had guessed.

"But she has promised not to say anything," she added.

"Good; don't let's change even for dinner. I believe we could fool Tommy and Auntie Mogs all evening," Phyllis chuckled.

"It's lots of fun being you," Janet whispered, as they went back into the dining-room.

"Well, I love being you; it makes me wish I really were," Phyllis answered.

Dinner passed without their game being discovered, though their occasional fits of laughter mystified Tommy and Auntie Mogs. They might have gotten safely to bed without their knowing if it hadn't been for Boru and Galahad.

They came out into the garden after dinner, pretending not to notice each other, for although Tom had succeeded in making them eat from the same dish, they were by no means friends.

Janet and Phyllis were walking up and down the center path. Sir Galahad purred softly and looked up at his mistress. Phyllis leaned down and picked him up in her aims. Janet let her hand rest on Boru's head.

Tom came out of the house just as they made a tableau by the old sundial.

At first he did not notice anything odd, but after a minute he said:

"There's something wrong with the picture. I think it's your dresses. They don't match your animals. Hold on a minute. I've got it!" he exclaimed. "You've swapped clothes."

"And you just found it out," Phyllis teased.

Tom studied them for a minute and shook his head solemnly.

"It's no wonder either; you are as alike as two peas in a pod, except for the way you talk. What a lot of larks you will be able to have, but I shouldn't wonder if you found it embarrassing when you got a little older. Perhaps I had better brand you with your initials," he suggested--then he added slowly, "Yes, I think on the whole it would be a lot better for all concerned if I did."