Princess Polly's Playmates Part 22

A short time surely for so much to have been accomplished.

Perhaps the "new little girl," as the other children called her, found it easier to capture Inez, and hold her for her BEST friend, because Inez was very eager for a little "chum."

She had hoped to be chosen by Princess Polly, to take the place of Rose.

Disappointed, and angry because Polly Sherwood did not prefer her, she would not try to choose a mate from her other playmates. Instead, she gave all of her time to the "new little girl," and never were two small girls more intimate.

A few days after Polly's return she was sitting on the stone wall near the entrance to the driveway.

A bright hued j.a.panese parasol kept the sun from her head and shoulders, and she sang a cheery melody, hitting her little heels against the wall to mark the time.

"Suns.h.i.+ne and showers, Bees in the flowers, Blue sky and floating clouds, Soft Summer air; Bright yellow b.u.t.terfly, His gauzy wings to try, Floats like the thistledown, Without a care.

"Now, to the velvet rose, Off and away he goes, Far from all other blooms Roving so free; Flighty, and light of heart, Having of care no part, Gay yellow b.u.t.terfly, Happy is he."

Inez Varney, with her new playmate, ran along the avenue. Inez was the only one of Polly's friends who had not been up to see her since her visit to Rose.

Now, in great haste, she clasped the hand of her little friend and ran to where Polly was sitting.

"This is Gwen Harcourt," said Inez, "and Gwen, this is Polly Sherwood, that all the children call 'Princess Polly.'"

"_I_ won't!" said little Miss Harcourt, stoutly.

"You NEEDN'T," said Polly, coolly.

The new little girl was surprised. She had believed that Polly would be very angry. Indeed, she was quite disappointed that Polly seemed not in the least to care.

"Is that your house up there between the trees?" she asked.

"Yes," said Polly, but she did not say: "'Will you come in?'"

That did not trouble Gwen, however. She needed no invitation. She could invite herself, and she did.

"I'm coming over to see you some day," she said.

Inez giggled. She thought her new friend's pertness very smart.

"You don't say you'll be glad to see me, but I'm coming just the same,"

said Gwen; "and p'raps I'll come to-morrow, and p'raps it'll be next week, but I'm truly coming."

Polly felt that she had never seen a prettier child, nor could she think of another as rude as Gwen Harcourt.

She was always kind and polite, but what could she say to this rude little girl that would be courteous and at the same time truthful?

"I can't tell her I'll be glad to have her come, for I just KNOW I don't want her. She's very pretty, but, someway, I'm sure I'd be happier without her," thought Polly.

Gwen Harcourt, vexed that Polly Sherwood had not been at all excited at the thought of receiving a call from her little self, turned toward Inez. "Come," she said, "let's go out in the suns.h.i.+ne and have a run.

It's awful dull here!"

"I guess we'll be going," said Inez. "Gwen is so very gay that most places seem dull to her. Come!"

She held out her hand, Gwen grasped it, and together they ran down the avenue.

They did not even say "Good-bye," but raced off as if every moment spent with Polly were too dull to be endured.

"I said I shouldn't call her 'Princess Polly' and I shan't," said Gwen, to which Inez replied:

"Well, you don't HAVE to, and I guess she didn't care much."

Polly, looking after them, spoke softly to herself.

"What pretty eyes she had, and her hair was fine, too." Then, after a moment's hesitation, she spoke again.

"She was lovely to look at, but she wasn't very polite.

"She said she was coming over here some day, but I do hope that she won't hurry about it. I'm sure I don't need her as much as Inez does. I don't mind how long it is before I see Gwen Harcourt!"

Gwen Harcourt had a most unlovely disposition and no one could guess what she at any time might do. If Princess Polly had urged her to come very soon to Sherwood Hall she would have waited a week at least before appearing there.

As she had received no urging, she decided to go on the following day.

Very early the next morning Polly sat in a big chair in the library, reading her favorite fairy book. A slight sound caused her to look up from the page.

"Why, there she is!" she whispered.

There, indeed, was Gwen Harcourt, perched upon the fence that enclosed the piazza. She was looking straight in at the window, her bold little eyes noting every object in the room.

"Come out! Come out!" she cried, beckoning so frantically that she nearly lost her balance.

Polly was annoyed. She was in the midst of an enchanting tale, and she so wished to finish reading it. Truly, she was not glad to see Gwen Harcourt.

She never treated anyone rudely, however, so she closed her book and went out to greet her early visitor.

"I guess you'd think I wanted to come up here if you knew HOW I came,"

said Gwen.

"How did you come?" Polly asked, not because she cared but in order to say SOMETHING. She could not say that she was glad to see her.

"Through the window and over our hedge," said Gwen. "Mama said that as I'd been horrid at the breakfast table I must stay in all the forenoon.

I didn't think that was fair, because I wasn't VERY horrid. I put my foot on the table so I could tie my shoe ribbons. Papa said, 'Gwendolen!' and I took it down quick. Then I took some peanut sh.e.l.ls from my pocket and sailed them in my cup of chocolate. They looked like little boats. My piece of melon had the stem on it and I said it was a music box. I wound the stem round and round, and sung 'Yankee Doodle.'

Mama made the waitress take me away from the table and I just howled all the way! I don't think I need have stayed in for such little things as that! I DIDN'T stay in. I jumped out of the window, it's near the ground, and then, because it was the shortest way, I scrambled right over the hedge. Horrid old thing! It had thorns on it, and it scratched my knee."

Polly thought her a handsome little savage.

Gwen thought that she had made an impression upon Polly.

"There was just one reason why I acted so. Mama had guests, and she had just been telling them what a good child I was, and I thought it would be a joke to do some queer things at the table.

"I thought because she had company she wouldn't send me away, but she did," she concluded.