"What do you want?" demanded Tom, crossly, feeling it impossible to elude such a pursuer, and backing up against a convenient angle.
"I want you to come up into the library and watch the game. Do, it'll be the best time,"—he didn't say "to make it all up."
"Can't," said Tom, "he won't see me."
"Oh, yes, he will; I almost know he will," declared Jasper, eagerly feeling this minute as if the most unheard-of things were possible.
"And beside, your sister—I mean the Pepper girl—Miss Pepper—" Tom corrected himself clumsily. "She can't bear me—I won't come."
"Oh, yes, she can now," said Jasper, just as eagerly, "especially since
I've told her all you've told me."
"Well, I hate girls anyway," declared Tom, in his most savage fashion; "always have hated 'em, and always shall. I won't come!"
III
PHRONSIE GOES VISITING
"Grandpapa," said Phronsie, softly, as she clung to his hand, after they had made the descent to the lower deck, "I think the littlest one can eat some of the fruit, don't you?" she asked anxiously.