TWINS INDEED
Janet and Phyllis stood in the middle of Janet's room and looked at
each other. There was nothing apparently that was strange in their
appearance. One had on a dark blue, chiffon, afternoon dress and the
other a white piqué with a black belt.
They joined hands and stood before the mirror, and then they both
began to laugh very hard. Boru, who had been dozing on the floor in
a patch of sunlight, got up and came over to them. A keen observer
might have thought it odd that he chose the blue chiffon dress to rub
up against instead of the white one.
[Illustration: A keen observer might have thought it odd that he
chose the blue chiffon dress to rub against instead of the white one.]
Phyllis noticed it and laughed again.
"Funny how fond Boru is of me, isn't it?" she asked. Then they went
down stairs together.
Auntie Mogs was busy arranging some flowers in a bowl.
"Phyllis, help me with these, will you, dear!"
The white dress stepped forward and then stood still, and the blue
chiffon was soon bending over the table.
Martha came into the room, carrying a plate of tea biscuits.
"Put these on the side table, Miss Janet, please," she said, and the
white dress did as she asked.
"What is the matter with you children!" Auntie Mogs asked. "You are
so quiet."
"Nothing at all," they both answered together.
Tom came in and looked around hurriedly.
"Nobody here yet! Then I'm going to have a cooky, a piece of cake
and some candy. Janet, dear little sister of mine, give me one of
those biscuits, or two if you insist." The white dress offered him
the plate and two brown eyes looked at him hard as he helped himself.
But he filled his pockets unconcernedly and turned toward the table.
"Phyllis, other little sister of mine, have you a flower for my
button hole! I'm not going to be at your party, but I want to look
festive none the less."
The blue dress stood very close to him as the flower was carefully
poked into place.
"You are both very quiet this afternoon, it seems to me," he observed
critically, looking from one to the other. "What's the matter?"
The girls began to laugh, and they kept it up until they had to lean
on each other for support.
"Well, evidently something is very wrong indeed, but I didn't mean to
remind you of it. Are you going to do this often during the
afternoon?"
Only suppressed gurgles answered him, and he marched off to his own
room in disgust.
It was not long before the guests began to arrive.
Miss Carter met them at the door, and the girls both shook hands with
each one and then went off for tea or cake, and each time the guest
said, "Thank you, Janet," to the white dress, and "That's very sweet
of you," to the blue one. And every now and then both girls would
disappear into the hall, laugh silently and return to their posts.
The Blakes were among the first arrivals, and Mrs. Todd was with
them. Mildred and Alice were a little surprised that the wearer of
the white dress came up to them and said "hello!" in the friendliest
way.
"Will you have a cup of tea and a biscuit? You ought to be hungry
after that long walk, or did you drive over? Oh, but of course you
didn't; I forgot you were tired of driving." The white dress
fluttered away to return a minute later with tea.
"Here you are; can you manage all the plates?"
"Why, of course," Mildred replied. "How nice it must be for you to
have your sister here," she said, smiling.
"Oh, it is rather nice."
"Rather nice!" Alice exclaimed. "I should think it would be a
perfect blessing."
"Now, why a blessing?"
"Why--why because it is some one for you to be with." Alice was
amazed. "You must have been awfully lonely before she came?"
"Lonely--I? How silly!"
"Well, but you never went with any of the girls except us now and
again, and naturally every one thought you must be lonely. Alice
isn't the only one who thought so," Mildred said vehemently.
"Then every one was wrong. I never was lonely for a minute. I had
too many things to think about. Of course it is nice having a sister
that understands you, but even without her I would not be lonely."
The white dress drifted away at a sign from the hostess, and Alice
and Mildred were left looking at each other in pained surprise. They
were wearing their hair rolled up and tied at the back of their necks
for the first time, and they couldn't imagine why Janet had said
nothing about it.
"How queer she is to-day," Mildred said.
"And to think we always thought of her as lonely! I guess she didn't
come to see us any oftener because she didn't want to," Alice replied.
Across the room, Miss Clark was talking to the wearer of the blue
dress.
"Isn't it beautiful to think of your being here with Janet?" she
exclaimed.
"Yes, it is splendid."
"I suppose you will be carrying her back to the dreadful city with
you before long?"
"Yes, I think we will go in a few weeks. School begins, you see, and
we mustn't be too late getting back."
"What a change it will be for dear Janet!" Miss Clark continued. "I
can't say I altogether approve."
"But why?"
"Well, it will change her, and I hate to think of her getting
cityfied and filling her head with notions." Miss Clark did not
specify just exactly what notions were.
"Of course you are very dear and sweet," she continued, "but you are
not at all like our Janet; though you look very much alike, I would
never confuse you for an instant."
"Are you quite sure!"
"Indeed I am, and I don't want to hurt your feelings when I say that
I hope you will not let Janet change too much."
"Why, I think it will do her good to go to the city. She will meet
lots of nice girls and go to school, and certainly anything would be
better than being alone so much of the time as she is here. I hope
she learns to be like other girls when she gets to town."
"Ah, well, I am afraid I can't agree with you," Miss Clark said
sadly. The blue dress hurried off to pass the cake to Mrs. Todd, who
was sitting alone in a corner.
"Stay with me, child," Mrs. Todd said when she had helped herself.
"I want to look at you. I thought this afternoon that you were like
your father in manner,"--her blue eyes searched the brown ones.
Suddenly she frowned. "Hello, that's odd. No, I can't be wrong.
You little imps you, you've--"
"Oh, do hush, please; some one might hear you, and not a soul has
even suspected, not even Auntie Mogs. How did you guess?" Janet
demanded.
"Eyes," Mrs. Todd said shortly. "Yours have little tiny flecks of
gold in them, like your mother's. Phyllis's are clearer, less
dreamy, like her father's. I won't give you away."
"Oh, thanks; you can't imagine what fun it is. I am hearing all
sorts of things about myself, and I can't wait to compare notes with
Phyllis."
Opportunity came a little later when they met in the kitchen.
Phyllis repeated her numerous conversations, and Janet told her that
Mrs. Todd had guessed.
"But she has promised not to say anything," she added.
"Good; don't let's change even for dinner. I believe we could fool
Tommy and Auntie Mogs all evening," Phyllis chuckled.
"It's lots of fun being you," Janet whispered, as they went back into
the dining-room.
"Well, I love being you; it makes me wish I really were," Phyllis
answered.
Dinner passed without their game being discovered, though their
occasional fits of laughter mystified Tommy and Auntie Mogs. They
might have gotten safely to bed without their knowing if it hadn't
been for Boru and Galahad.
They came out into the garden after dinner, pretending not to notice
each other, for although Tom had succeeded in making them eat from
the same dish, they were by no means friends.
Janet and Phyllis were walking up and down the center path. Sir
Galahad purred softly and looked up at his mistress. Phyllis leaned
down and picked him up in her aims. Janet let her hand rest on
Boru's head.
Tom came out of the house just as they made a tableau by the old
sundial.
At first he did not notice anything odd, but after a minute he said:
"There's something wrong with the picture. I think it's your
dresses. They don't match your animals. Hold on a minute. I've got
it!" he exclaimed. "You've swapped clothes."
"And you just found it out," Phyllis teased.
Tom studied them for a minute and shook his head solemnly.
"It's no wonder either; you are as alike as two peas in a pod, except
for the way you talk. What a lot of larks you will be able to have,
but I shouldn't wonder if you found it embarrassing when you got a
little older. Perhaps I had better brand you with your initials," he
suggested--then he added slowly, "Yes, I think on the whole it would
be a lot better for all concerned if I did."