"I wanted to come," Isita answered quickly.
Something unfamiliar in her voice made Harry look closer at her. Ordinarily Isita's color was a clear, pale olive. Now her cheeks were flushed, her eyes heavy, and she breathed quickly.
"I don't believe you're well!" Harry exclaimed.
"Sure, I'm well. I hurried up here too fast, that's all," Isita insisted, and asked what work she should do first.
She was evidently eager to do her very best, and after a little Harry felt encouraged to bring out the flowered lawn she had wanted to give Isita. She brought it from her room where it had been lying, freshly ironed.
"See here," she said. "Wouldn't you like to put this on? It's too small for me, and yet it's so pretty I can't bear to throw it away. It will be nice and cool, too, this hot day."
Without a word the other girl took the dress; but, though her lips were dumb, she looked up at Harry, and over her quiet face came an expression so vivid, so glowing, that Harry felt as if a dull-covered book had been unexpectedly flashed open at a splendid picture. The book was instantly closed again, but that one glimpse satisfied her. She felt as happy as a child dressing a new doll as she slipped the dress over Isita's thin shoulders, buttoned it and then stood off to admire the result. Isita dropped her eyelids shyly and smoothed the bright lawn with caressing fingers.
"Now, if you'll shell the peas," Harry went on as if nothing unusual had happened, "I'll freeze the ice cream. Here; slip on this big apron. You want to look fresh when the company arrives."
She ran down cellar, where the cream was waiting, together with a tub of ice that Rob had cracked for her; but she had scarcely begun to turn the freezer when Isita called:
"There's something that looks like comp'ny coming up the road!"