“Why not? I’ll shoulder one; the rest can’t run away—that’s an advantage.”
“Lilith will show you about,” said Polly. “Shall I call her?”
“Thank you,” he smiled politely, shaking his head; then, with a twinkling “I can find my own way,” he picked up the girl in the next chair and started on a run towards the invisible bungalows.
Going inside, Polly met Mrs. Daybill and Lilith coming downstairs.
“Benedicta and Russell have started on a western pilgrimage—you’d better go, too. And do you mind taking Esther and Timmy along? It won’t hurt them to walk as far as the Sandfords’ and the Temples’, will it?” addressing the White Nurse.
“I don’t know how far that is; but a little walk will do them good. What’s the matter with your going?”
“Not this morning. I’ve promised Russell to go over to Sally’s with him after dinner.”
“All right for this once,” laughed Mrs. Daybill; “but it is not to be ‘You go and I’ll stay behind’ all summer, remember.”
It was nearly five o’clock when Polly and Russell bade good-bye to Sally on the steps of the Robinsons’ pretty bungalow.
Some distance away Polly turned to look back at the inscription which ran across the gable: