“I'll tell you who it is, and then you'll know whether you're glad or not,” said Mollie.
She had been walking backward, and in front of her playmates, and thus she could watch their faces. She looked at them an instant, then she said:
“It's—Patricia Lavine!”
The little group stood stock still, and it was quite evident that not one of the party was delighted.
Nancy was the first to speak.
“Are you sure, Mollie?” she asked.
“She said so,” Mollie replied. “I was running across the lawn to call for Flossie, when I heard some one call:
“‘Mollie! Mollie! Mollie Merton!’
“I turned, and there was Patricia running up the walk. You know she was always in a rush, and she's just the same now.
“‘I can't stop but a minute,’ she said, ‘but I've just time to tell you that we've been hunting houses, and we're coming here to live. We've got a house right next to the big schoolhouse, and that's nice, for I wouldn't want to go to private school.’