Part 32 (1/2)

MR. HOWBRIDGE IS PERPLEXED

Tess and Dot went out that morning, when the sun had dried the gra.s.s, to play with the lonely little Creamer girl, and they did not invite Lillie Treble to go with them.

n.o.body could blame them for that breach of politeness. Dot could not overlook the dreadful thing Lillie had done to the Alice-doll.

Fortunately, the doll was not wholly ruined-but ”no thanks to Lillie,” as Agnes said.

She never _would_ look like the same doll again. ”She is so pale now,”

said Dot, hugging the doll tightly; ”she looks as though she had been through a dreadful illness. Doesn't she, Tess?”

”And her beautiful dress and cap all ruined,” groaned Tess. ”It was awfully mean of Lillie.”

”I don't care so much about the dress,” murmured Dot. ”But the color ran so in her cheeks, and one of her eyes is ever so much lighter blue than the other.”

”We'll play she _has_ been sick,” said Tess. ”She's had the measles, like Mabel's sisters.”

”Oh, no!” cried Dot, who believed in the verities of play-life. ”Oh, no! it would not be nice to have all the other dolls quarantined, like Mabel is.”

Mabel was not very happy on this morning, it proved. Her face was flushed when she came to the fence, and she spoke to the Kenway girls hoa.r.s.ely, as though she suffered from a cold.

”Come on over here and play. I'm tired of playing so at arm's length like we've been doing.”

”Oh, we couldn't,” said Tess, shaking her head vigorously.

”Why not? _You_ haven't quarantine at your house,” said Mabel, pouting.

”Mrs. McCall says we mustn't-nor you mustn't come over here.”

”I don't care,” began Mabel, but Tess broke in cheerfully, with:

”Oh, let's keep on using the make-believe telephone. And let's make believe the river's in a flood between us, and the bridges are all carried away, and--”

”No! I won't play that way,” cried Mabel, pa.s.sionately, and with a stamp of her foot. ”I want you to come over here.”

”We can't,” said Tess, quite as firmly.

”You're mean things-there now! I never did like you, anyway. I want you to play in my yard--”

”_I'll_ come over and play with you,” interposed a cool, sweet voice, and there was Lillie Treble, looking just as angelic as she could look.

”Oh, Lillie!” gasped Tess. But Mabel broke in with:

”Come on. There's a loose picket yonder. You can push it aside. Come on over here, little girl, and we'll have a good time. I never did like those stuck-up Kenway girls, anyway.”

Lillie turned once to give Tess and Dot the full benefit of one of the worst grimaces she could possibly make. Then she joined the Creamer girl in the other yard. She remained over there all the morning, and for some reason Mabel and Lillie got along very nicely together.

Lillie could be real nice, if she wanted to be.

That afternoon Mabel did not appear in her yard and Lillie wandered about alone, having sworn eternal enmity against Tess and Dot. The next morning Mrs. Creamer put her head out of an upstairs window of the cottage and told Mrs. McCall, who chanced to be near the line-fence between the two places, that Mabel had ”come down” with the measles, after all the precautions they had taken with her.

”It's lucky those two little girls over there didn't come into our yard to play with her,” said Mrs. Creamer. ”The other young ones are just beginning to get around, and now Mabel will have to have a spell.

She always was an obstinate child; she couldn't even have measles at a proper and convenient time.”