The girl who was about Alice’s age answered back, “No I didn’t, Ed, I thought it was Betty’s turn to-day.”
“Now I know a lot,” Mary Jane whispered to herself. “She’s Frances, I’m sure, and he’s Ed; and Betty must be the little girl that’s ’bout as big as me.”
Just then, when Mary Jane was wishing and wishing and wishing that she would come, Alice came to the door of the balcony and looked out.
“Sh-h-h!” whispered Mary Jane, tensely, “they’re here, both of ’em, and there’s more of ’em, too!”
Alice seemed to understand exactly what Mary Jane meant, even though her sentence was decidedly mixed up, and she stepped out onto the balcony.
Frances heard the door shut and looked up. For a long minute the two girls looked at each other, then Frances, the girl with the auburn hair and the friendly smile, nodded shyly.
Little Betty didn’t take long deciding what she would do. She called eagerly, “Moving in?”
“Yes, we are,” laughed Alice, waving her hand toward the piles of boxes and rubbish stacked up on the back stairs of the building.
Ed, who had started back into the house, looked around and, seeing his sisters had made a small start toward conversation, called a question on his own responsibility.
“Going to use ’em all?” he asked, pointing to the boxes.