“I can’t stay another minute,” said Polly, when they asked her to try again. “Where’s Jess and Margy? I have to go on home and finish some more flowers.”
“Jess had to go to the dentist and Margy went to take a music lesson,” Fred recited.
“Oh, of course—yes, I remember,” said Polly. “Margy is coming over to-night to practice our duet.”
Polly and Margy were to play a duet at the Christmas party in school.
Picking up the box she had left on the steps, Polly hurried off home, while the boys continued to hurl snowballs at the tomato can with varying success but unwaning enthusiasm.
“I wouldn’t work on those flowers now, Polly,” said Mrs. Marley, when she saw her daughter. “You’ve been indoors all day, and you’ll feel much better if you take your sled and have a coast or two before it’s dark. I’ll help you with the flowers after supper and we’ll get them done in less than an hour.”
So Polly went out again and met Margy, now through with her lesson, and they had four trips down the hill and back with their sleds before the five o’clock whistle sounded.
When Polly came in, she went upstairs to brush her hair. She had left the box of flowers on the bed in her room, and she was surprised to find a dark stain spreading over the counterpane.
“What in the world is that?” she said, in astonishment.
She lifted the box hastily. It was heavy with water, and it was water that had seeped through the pasteboard and made the stain.