“Well, Teddy can look after himself,” said Janet, with a little shake of her head which sent her ringlets of hair flying into and out of her eyes. “And I’ll look after myself,” she added. “Course, I didn’t want to be impolite,” she continued. “But——”
“I’m older’n you are, and I have a right to watch out so you don’t get hit by an auto!” declared Teddy.
“Pooh! You can’t even watch out for yourself!” giggled Janet. “You fell into the brook last week; that’s what you did!”
“Well, my foot slipped,” explained Teddy. “And if I hadn’t fallen in first you would, ’cause you were walking along the same path. Only when you saw me go in, you jumped back.”
“Oh, all right! I don’t care!” and Janet gave herself a little fling as she went out of the gate. “I’m going to look for Daddy. You can come if you want to,” she added to her brother.
“Huh! She thinks she’s smart,” mumbled Teddy, as he ran his hand through the mass of tangled, golden curls on his head, to get some of them out of his eyes so he could see better.
Janet and Teddy each had beautiful curly hair, and that is how they came to be given the name of “Curlytops,” by which they were called more often than by their real names.
“Now, children, be pleasant and kind to each other,” begged Mrs. Martin, as the two went out on the sidewalk. “This is a holiday, and you don’t want to spoil it by being cross.”
However, the little quarrels, or “spats,” between Ted and Janet never lasted very long, and they were soon on good terms again, looking down the street for a sight of their father. They saw many persons walking past, and there was a large number of automobiles in the street—in fact, the streets of Cresco, an Eastern town where the Martin family lived, were unusually crowded on this day.
While Ted and Janet were eagerly looking for a sight of their father, a little boy, several years younger than the Curlytops, came out of the house. He did not have their clustering ringlets, though he was a fine-looking little chap.