“Love it, miss!” said Harris.
“Well, then, here goes!” said Betty. “Harris, please hold our hats.”
The next instant the three were turning somersaults on the green grass of the common, to the unbounded amazement of the maid, who felt quite shocked, and shouted to the young ladies to come back and behave themselves. Betty stopped at once when she heard the pleading note in Harris’s voice.
“You hadn’t ought to have done it,” said Harris; “and if my missis was to know! Oh, what shows you all three do look! Now, let me put your hats on tidy-like. There, that’s better!”
“I feel much happier in my mind now, Harris—and that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” said Betty.
“Yes, miss, it’s a very good thing. But I shouldn’t say, to look at you, that you knew the meaning of the least bit of unhappiness.”
“Of course I don’t,” said Betty; “nor does my sister Sylvia, nor does my sister Hester.”
“We did up in Scotland for a time,” said Hester, who could not understand Betty at all, and felt more and more puzzled at her queer behavior.
“Well, now, we’ll walk sober and steady,” said Harris. “You may reckon on one thing, missies—that I won’t tell what you done on the common, for if I did you’d be punished pretty sharp.”
“You may tell if you like, Harris,” said Betty. “I shouldn’t dream of asking you to keep a secret.”