And again the front door was opened, again the northeast wind blew in, and Mrs. Wentworth Ward of Boston went out.
The door had scarcely closed behind her when that leading from the back of the house to the hall was carefully opened, and a boy’s face appeared at the crack.
“Has she gone?” inquired the owner of the face in a loud whisper. “I say, Vic, has she gone?”
But Victoria did not reply. She had hastened to rejoin her sisters in the dining-room after bidding her aunt good-bye, and they were now looking at one another in consternation. What did Aunt Sophia mean?
Peter, seeing for himself that the coast was clear, sauntered into the room.
CHAPTER II.
THE STARRS HOLD A FAMILY COUNCIL.
Peter Starr was the only boy among four sisters. Had he been questioned closely upon the subject, he probably would have replied, “Yes, and there are four too many!” This is what he would have said, perhaps, but it is doubtful if such a reply would have been altogether truthful. Peter’s sisters were very useful to him, at times, although there were occasions when it would have been pleasant to do exactly that which he, and he alone, wished to do, instead of being dragged in four different directions by the conflicting opinions of his four sisters.
Sophy he could manage, it was true, and Victoria he thought he managed, though sometimes it occurred to him to wonder if Vic were not in reality managing him, unknown to himself. But Honor and Katherine openly defied him, and were fond of ordering him about in a manner which was annoying, to say the least. Peter spent the greater part of his time in endeavoring to frustrate the plans made by Honor and Katherine in his behalf.
To-day, fortunately for him, Honor’s cold prevented her from being aware of the odor of the barn which accompanied him into the room, and Katherine was too much absorbed in the conversation to remark upon it. Victoria and Sophy did not notice those things.
“Has the ancient war-horse gone?” asked Peter.