"There spoke the Queen of Sheba!" said Emily laughing.
Janet laughed, too. She had borne the nickname too long to be sensitive about it, and she had long ago learned the great secret that the best way of disarming ridicule is to laugh one's self. She could well afford to be laughed at a little, as notwithstanding her dignified carriage and grand airs, as the girls called them, her obliging disposition made her a general favorite in the school, and all the little girls especially, all but worshipped her. She accepted the sobriquet of Queen of Sheba with a perfectly good grace, and answering to it as readily as to her own name, and she had borne it so long that even Mrs. Pomeroy ceased to look grave when she heard it.
"I really should like to come down here by moonlight," said Emily to Delia, after the other girls had left them. "The moon will be almost full to-night, and it will be as bright as day."
"I am coming out," said Delia quietly, "and as I want you to come with me, your desire will be gratified."
"You don't really mean it," said Emily, surprised. "How in the world will you manage to get permission!"
"I shall take it," replied Delia.
"But how will you get out?"
"Easily enough. We will go to bed as usual, but without entirely undressing, and wait till every thing is quiet. Then we will put on our frocks and cloaks, and taking the water pitcher, we will go down quietly and slip out of the garden door. Miss Thomas is officer, and she sleeps as sound as a log, and besides, if she does catch a glimpse of us, she is so near-sighted she will never know who it is."
"But suppose she comes down and catches us?"
"Then we will say we went out for some water, which is no very heinous crime. Some of the girls do so every little while, and even they are caught, there is very little said about it."