"Oh," said Polly, finding it hard work to pull her mind off from the unknown but splendid things that the boys at Jasper's school had said about Ben, "let me see," and she wrinkled up her brows, "where shall I begin?"
"I should think the most natural thing would be to tell about what we did last night," said Ben, composedly.
"Oh, what did you do last night?" cried Jasper. "I suppose you had a lovely time telling all about your plans for Christmas, and there was I, put to bed like a great baby."
"No, we didn't," said Ben, "not by a long shot; we went over to Madam Van Ruypen's."
"You went over to Madam Van Ruypen's!" repeated Jasper in astonishment. "Not the first evening you were at home?"
"Yes, we did," said Ben; "just as I said, we went over there."
"What for? Oh, Polly, what for?" Jasper flew around, appealing to her. "What did you go over to Madam Van Ruypen's for? Tell me, Polly," as she sat lost in thought.
"Oh, why because," said Polly, coming out of her abstraction, "she has got some of the poor mountain children down there, and she didn't know what to do with them."
Jasper turned a bewildered face over to Ben.
"You see," said Ben, "she had written up when the box went, you know, to have the mother let some of the children come, so as to have a good time. And they got here yesterday, so she had to have us," and he gave a sigh.