“Why, of course I know!” responded Polly. “You feel just as I did that day father told me he was going to marry Miss Lucy,—I mean mother,—and I was to be their little girl. Don’t you remember? I’d been for a visit to Mrs. Jocelyn’s and brought home those presents, and Mary Pender thought I must have had such a good time because I was so full of fun.”
“I guess I couldn’t ever forget!” cried Leonora. “That lovely rose-bud sash you gave me was the prettiest thing I ever had to wear in all my life! And was that really the day you first knew about it?”
Polly nodded.
“Queer!” Leonora went on. “There we both went to the hospital, you hurted so awful bad nobody s’posed you’d get well, and I so lame that even Dr. Dudley thought I’d never walk straight! And now—my! ain’t it queer? We’re adopted by the nicest folks, and I don’t limp a mite! Just see how good I can walk!”
She skipped off gleefully, falling into a slow, regular pace across the room.
“That’s beautiful!” praised Polly. “And it doesn’t hurt you now, does it?”
“Not a bit! Oh, it’s so splendid that Dr. Dudley cured me!—why, there’s David! No, don’t go!” as Polly sprang up. “It isn’t school time yet.”
The girls ran to the door, Leonora clutching her friend’s arm, as if resolved not to let her escape.
“Your mother told me you were here,” David began.
“She didn’t tell you I was goin’ to your school, did she?” laughed Leonora.