The boy touched his cap and went quickly down the walk. Peggy’s glance followed him regretfully. He was a big boy; he must be two years older than she was, just a nice size to play with.
“And we never asked him his name or if he had brothers and sisters,” Alice said.
It was a lost opportunity and the children both regretted it, but they had been too much taken up with the return of Lady Jane to think of anything else at the moment. They had opened the basket and Lady Jane was purring about the place.
“You darling!” Alice cried as she stroked her gray striped coat. “You do like us best, don’t you, after all?”
There was an odd expression in Lady Jane’s green eyes. If she could have spoken, she would have said, “I like old friends, but I do like old places better still.” And the very next morning she disappeared again.
CHAPTER III
WHY PEGGY WORE BLUE FROCKS
Early in April there came a very hot day, and this reminded Mrs. Owen that she must be looking over the children’s summer dresses to see what new ones they would need, for it would take some time to make them, with all the other work she had to do. She went up into the large store-closet, which was all they had in the way of an attic, and she unpacked the trunk that held the dresses. There were only four of Peggy’s, for she was very hard on her clothes, and she had stained or torn several of them. There were six of Alice’s in excellent condition. They were a little short for her, but there were tucks that could be let down. Peggy had two white dresses, a pink one, and a plaid dress. She tried on one of the white dresses first and pranced about the room with it. Her legs looked longer than ever, for the skirt was several inches above her knees.