Shirley naturally kept with Madge and Caroline, but when they found a place for the inevitable sundae or soda, Shirley discovered that Hope Holland and Sidney Thorne were sitting down at the table where she and Madge had seated themselves. Caroline, at the last minute, had accepted the invitation of a beckoning hand from another small table like theirs.
Shirley did not know that Hope had dared Sidney to this but she looked at the well-dressed girl so like herself and smiled in a friendly way, as she acknowledged Hope’s introduction. “Miss Thorne” also spoke as she would have done to any other girl and they all proceeded to give their orders. It was over, and very naturally, the meeting of the “doubles.” It could scarcely be called an adventure, and yet Shirley had a strange feeling about it. They talked, as girls talk, of school affairs chiefly, as they enjoyed the tempting dishes brought them. Hope, Sidney and Madge told bright stories of former adventures for Shirley’s benefit, but Sidney seldom looked at Shirley as she talked. She was a dear girl, Shirley thought even if she had waited so long to say a word to her. How could it have happened? Could there be any common ancestor not so far back, or was it just one of those strange duplications of which she had read?
Let it go for the present, the manner of both girls said. Sidney was her most charming self, appealing to Madge or Hope about this fact or that fancy. She called Shirley Miss Harcourt, which set Shirley off just a little farther than the other girls. But it was going to be much more comfortable for both Shirley and Sidney after this, with no efforts to avoid each other. Shirley decided that Sidney would have to be the one to make any advances, if they became really acquainted, but nods and smiles were possible now.
It was nearly dinner time when the launch at last brought its load of girls home to the school grounds. Madge took Shirley’s arm as they walked up from the dock. “Hope said that she engineered that meeting,” Madge told Shirley. “She said that she thought it ridiculous for Sidney not to know you at all.”
“I hope that she did not force Sidney Thorne into it,” said Shirley, “not that it matters so much, but it is better.”
“She said that she dared her to sit there with you and Sid took the dare. I think that she enjoyed it at the last.”
“It makes everything less noticeable now, I think,” Shirley thoughtfully said. “After a while the girls will not think so much about it, and I am sure that I shall not. I am glad to have met Sidney and I think her a fine girl. What do you think of Hope? Did she mean it kindly, do you think, when she asked Sidney to sing the solo, and was it to show me how like our voices were?”
“Yes to both, I think,” declared Madge. “She probably did it on an impulse, and if she thinks that you do not understand, she will very likely say something to you about it. By the way, you and Sidney could have a lot of fun at the Hallowe’en masquerade if you dress alike.”
“I’d not like to suggest it, but it would be fun.”