"Sometimes we go for dessert."
"Well," returned Polly, "if I couldn't stay all the time, I must say I'd like better to come in for dessert than just for soup."
Mary looked serious, but Molly laughed. "Don't you want to go down on the rocks with us?" asked the latter.
"I think I would prefer to sit here," said Mary.
"All by yourself?" said Molly, surprised.
"Oh, yes, I like to be alone."
This was too decided a hint for the others not to take, so they marched off together. "Well," said Polly when they were out of hearing, "I don't think much of her manners, and I don't think I shall trouble her much with my company. She likes to be alone; well, she will be, as far as I am concerned."
"Oh, she feels strange at first," said Molly by way of excusing her English cousin. "After while she will be more 'folksy,' as Luella says."
"Well then, when she wants to come with us she can say so. I shall not ask her, I know. She is just like what I was afraid she would be stand-offish and airish. She reminds me of 'the cat that walks by herself.' I was always afraid the girls I might meet would be that way."
At this Molly looked quite hurt.