"Oh, Phyllis, I'm so glad to see you. We miss you terribly at school. It isn't a bit nice without you!" she exclaimed as she kissed Phyllis.
"Well, I'll be back Monday," Phyllis replied. "I've missed you too. Sit down and tell me all the news—oh, wait a minute. Here comes Eleanor, and Rosamond is with her."
The two girls who were just coming up the steps were both dressed in dark blue and their long braids hung down their backs and were both tied with bright green ribbons to match their green tams. They were not sisters, but they had been friends for so long that it was a joke at school to say that they were beginning to look like each other.
Phyllis was very fond of them both for they were great fun, and their endless ideas were always a source of wonder to their class.
"Hello, Phyllis, here we are," Rosamond greeted. "Couldn't get here a minute sooner."
"Old Ducky Lucky requested us to remain after class as usual," Eleanor explained.
It all sounded so natural to Phyllis's ear that she giggled delightedly. It was fun seeing the girls again, and she realized for the first time that she had missed them unconsciously during the past month.
"Funny old Ducky Lucky," she laughed. "Is she just as fussy as ever?"
"Well, if you want to call it fussy, she is," Rosamond groaned. "I can think of a better word, only I won't."
Ducky Lucky was the disrespectful nickname for Miss Baxter, the mathematics teacher at Miss Harding's school.