Like bees they sipped and sipped, and laughed and said foolish things like children at a merry-making.
Suddenly Miss Sterling sprang to her feet.
"The day is going," she cried, "and we must get there quick! Come!"
The "just a little way" of Polly's lengthened on and on until the three who were not accustomed to country fields looked in dismay toward the long line of trees which seemed so very far off.
"Are you fearfully tired?" Polly would reiterate, and "Not a bit!" Miss Sterling would lie with complacency, while Mrs. Albright grew wondrously jolly in her effort to keep everybody from realizing the truth.
When, finally, they stepped into the dim, cool wood, melodious with the gurgle and splash of hurrying water and the lilting of unseen birds, nobody remembered the hot, weary way she had come.
Miss Sterling, stretched upon a bed of vines and moss, announced that she was in "heaven."
Little Mrs. Adlerfeld looked across in answering sympathy.
"It makes me so glad and happy, it hurts," she said, her hand upon her breast.
"I knew you'd love it!" exulted Polly, dropping lightly between the two and laying a hand upon each. "Let's come out here every week!"