“Almost,” said Jasper with shining eyes, and looking at his watch for the fiftieth time; “only ten more minutes, Polly, and the train will be due.”
“Ten horrible minutes!” cried Polly, wrinkling her brows. “O Jasper! keep me off here, or I shall disgrace myself before Barby and Elyot. They are so patient,” with a glance in their direction.
“Good reason why,” said Jasper with a laugh; “they’ve all those flower-girls and nosegay children to supervise. See! they are in the very thickest of the crowd, Polly.”
“Well, they must come with us,” said Polly in a tremor, “or they’ll lose the first sight. Oh, do bring them, Jasper!”
“And Johnny and King,” cried Jasper, flying off. “Here, you children, the whole bunch of you, this way!”
But Barby and Elyot, deep in the charms of the Badgertown children, were so excited that they did not hear. “I’ll get ’em,” said Johnny running up; and immediately he dashed off and flushed and triumphant, brought the two little Kings.
“Children,” said Polly with a happy ring in her voice, “you’ll lose seeing Aunt Phronsie and Uncle Roslyn come in if you do not stand close by papa and me. Thank you, Johnny,” with a bright smile to him “for telling them.”
“And I’ll get King now,” cried Johnny, his little heart bumping with pleasure that he had helped Mrs. King. “Hooray, here, King!” and he flashed off at a sight of him in one of the groups, while Barby and Elyot, aghast at what they might have missed, clung close to Polly’s hand.
Just then up stepped the first selectman, and touched his hat, “We’ve arranged a place for you, Mr. King and Mrs. King and family,” he said, “if you’ll come this way.” And he led off importantly through the groups of townspeople, to whom Polly nodded happily and Jasper raised his hat, to the other end of the platform. And there, on a staging a little higher than the platform, and trimmed about with evergreens and flowers, was a little waiting-place reserved for them.
“Oh, how perfectly lovely, Mr. Bunce,” cried Polly, “for you to do all this for us!”