And I wish she'd stay home
forever."
Still no answer from the doctor. He didn't act as if he heard, but
bowing gravely, he withdrew his head and shut the door.
"O dear, dear!" cried Alexia, when they had all looked at each other a
breathing space. "Why didn't he speak? I'd much rather he'd scold like
everything than to look like that. Polly, why don't you say something?"
"Because there isn't anything to say." Polly got no further, and turned
away, suspiciously near to tears. Was this the first meeting with the
girls to which she had looked forward so long?
"To think of that Cathie Harrison making such a breeze," cried Alexia
angrily; "a girl who's just come among us, as it were, and we only let
her in our set because Miss Salisbury asked us to make things pleasant
for her. If it had been any one else who raised such a fuss!"
Meantime Dr. Fisher strode out to the west porch, intending to walk down
to his office, and buttoning up his coat as he went along. As he turned
the angle in the drive, he came suddenly upon a girl who had thrown
herself down on a rustic seat under a tree, and whose shoulders were
shaking so violently that he knew she was sobbing, though he heard no
sound.
"Don't cry," said the little doctor, "and what's the matter?" all in the
same breath, and sitting down beside her.
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