triumphal entry into the city, sitting among my goods and chattels,
in a farmer’s cart.” Polly’s laugh was so infectious that every one
smiled and forgot to be shocked at her performance. “Yes,” she
added, “I kept wishing I could meet you, just to see your horrified
face when you saw me sitting on my little sofa, with boxes and
bundles all round me, a bird-cage on one side, a fishing basket,
with a kitten’s head popping in and out of the hole, on the other
side, and jolly old Mr. Brown, in his blue frock, perched on a keg
of apples in front. It was a lovely bright day, and I enjoyed the ride
immensely, for we had all sorts of adventures.”
“Oh, tell about it,” begged Maud, when the general laugh at Polly’s
picture had subsided.
“Well, in the first place, we forgot my ivy, and Kitty came running
after me, with it. Then we started again, but were soon stopped by
a great shouting, and there was Will racing down the hill, waving a
pillow in one hand and a squash pie in the other. How we did
laugh when he came up and explained that our neighbor, old Mrs.
Dodd, had sent in a hop-pillow for me, in case of headache, and a
pie to begin house-keeping with. She seemed so disappointed at
being too late that Will promised to get them to me, if he ran all
the way to town. The pillow was easily disposed of, but that pie! I
do believe it was stowed in every part of the wagon, and never
staid anywhere. I found it in my lap, then on the floor, next, upside
down among the books, then just on the point of coasting off a
trunk into the road, and at last it landed in my rocking-chair. Such
a remarkable pie as it was, too, for in spite of all its wanderings, it
never got spilt or broken, and we finally ate it for lunch, in order to
be left in peace. Next, my kitty got away, and I had a chase over
walls and brooks before I got her, while Mr. Brown sat shaking
with fun, to see me run. We finished off by having the
book-shelves tumble on our heads as we went down a hill, and
losing my chair off behind, as we went up a hill. A shout made us
pause, and, looking back, there was the poor little chair rocking all
by itself in the middle of the road, while a small boy sat on the
fence and whooped. It was great fun, I do assure you.”
Polly had run on in her lively way, not because she thought her
adventures amounted to much, but from a wish to cheer up her
friends, who had struck her as looking rather dull and out of sorts,
especially Mr. Shaw; and when she saw him lean back in his chair
with the old hearty laugh, she was satisfied, and blessed the
unlucky pie for amusing him.
“Oh, Polly, you do tell such interesting things!” sighed Maud,
wiping her eyes.
“I wish I ‘d met you, I ‘d have given you three cheers and a tiger,
for it must have been an imposing spectacle,” said Tom.
“No, you would n’t; you ‘d have whisked round the comer when
you saw me coming or have stared straight before you, utterly
unconscious of the young woman in the baggage wagon.”
Polly laughed in his face just as she used to do, when she said that,
and, in spite of the doubt cast upon his courtesy, Tom rather liked
it, though he had nothing to say for himself but a reproachful,
“Now, Polly, that ‘s too bad.”
“True, nevertheless. You must come and see my pets, Maud, for
my cat and bird live together as happily as brother and sister,” said
Polly, turning to Maud, who devoured every word she said.
“That ‘s not saying much for them,” muttered Tom, feeling that
Polly ought to address more of her conversation to him.
“Polly knows what she ‘s talking about; her brothers appreciate
their sisters,” observed Fanny, in her sharp tone.
“And Polly appreciates her brothers, don’t forget to add that,