NEW FRIENDS.
"Mary, see who is standing at the top of the front steps."
It was late Saturday afternoon. The two little girls had made the
rounds of the house, and finding nothing more that they could do, were
on their way over to the convent to see whether any of their classmates
had arrived. The child on the steps was certainly not one of them; for
she was no larger than Berta, and Mary was sure that she had never seen
her before. She was surprised when Wilhelmina raced across the grass,
calling, "Dorothy! Dorothy!"
The child turned, and her face brightened as she hurried down the
steps, clapping her hands and crying, "It's Willie! Oh, it's Willie!"
"It must be someone from Georgia. No one around here ever calls her
anything but Wilhelmina, because Aunt Etta asked the Sisters not to let
the girls shorten her name."
Mary ran to join the two at the foot of the steps. She heard Dorothy
say, "Daddy's in the house with a lady with a toothache."
"The lady with a toothache!" Wilhelmina's merry laugh rang out.
"Ye----es, Willie, 'cause she has a white thing tied around her face.
And she has on such a funny dress and a veil hanging 'way down and a
bib. Why does she wear such funny things?"
"You poor honey! Have you never seen Sisters before? That's a good
one! They would keep the dentist busy. Mary, this is Dorothy Bond
that I told you about--no, I didn't, either. We had so much to tell
each other that I forgot about the afternoon we found Dorothy. We had
gone down to the shore, and all of a sudden we saw a little row boat
drifting out to sea, and Dorothy was in it. She and her father were at
the resort up the beach, and her nurse left her alone, and she got into
the boat and went to sleep. We thought she would fall overboard before
Phil and Harry could swim out and tow her in. Her mother is in heaven,
and her father was so worried about her that Father wrote to Mother
Madeline to ask whether she would take Dorothy here, even though she is
too young. And what do you think, Dorothy? Dick and Jack are here!"
"Your Dick and Jack?"
"My Dick and Jack--the very ones you played with two weeks ago. And
Mary has the two dearest little sisters in the world. You will have so
many little girls to play with now that you won't remember you were
ever lonely. Here are the boys and the twins. They know that
something is going on, and they are afraid of missing it."
Dick caught sight of Dorothy, and with a shout, he ran to meet her; and
ten minutes later, when Mother Madeline and Mr. Bond came out to look
for her, his little daughter's gleeful cries, as she ran from tree to
tree playing _Pussy Wants a Corner_, lifted a great weight from the
father's anxious heart; for he knew that she had found friends in her
new home. Wilhelmina was the first to catch sight of him and led the
race toward the steps.
"And Mother is here, too, Mr. Bond," she said after Mary and the twins
had been introduced. "We are all visiting at Bird-a-Lea, Mary's new
home next door. We have been helping them to move out here from the
city. You will come over to see Mother and Uncle Rob and Aunt
'Lizabeth before you go, won't you?"
"I shall not have time to do so this evening, Wilhelmina; but I shall
be out here again to-morrow and shall be delighted to see your mother
and to meet Mr. and Mrs. Selwyn. You have no idea how happy it makes
me to know that my little girl is to have so many good friends,
especially some of her own age."
"Yes, Mr. Bond, we's all 'zactly four years old 'cept Jack and
Dick--he's hap-past four."
"So he is; and Dorothy is about a quarter past. Her birthday is in
June. But a few months more or less make no difference, Berta. I am
sure you will have the very best times together."
"Yes, indeed, Mr. Bond, these little people will see a great deal of
one another; for though Berta and Beth are too young to go to school, I
am quite sure that they will spend more than half their time over here.
Dorothy will enjoy going into the Kindergarten for a while every
morning to learn the little songs with the other children; and, if you
are willing, I shall allow her to visit at Bird-a-Lea very often."
"I shall be delighted to have her do so, Mother Madeline."
"O Dor'fy! Dor'fy! Aunt Mary is going to let you come over to our
house----"
"And you can play with our dollies, and we's going to have tea parties,
and----and ev'ything!"
The twins threw their arms around their new friend and danced about at
the risk of falling head first down the steps.
"Aunt Mary, couldn't you let Dorothy stay with us until Monday? She
knows us now, and she might be lonely here when we go home."
Mr. Bond answered before Mother Madeline could speak. "No, no, Mary, I
could not think of imposing on your mother in that way. She must be
pretty well worn out after moving from the city."
"But she won't mind jes' one more chilluns, Mr. Bond--not jes' _one_,"
pleaded Berta.
Mother Madeline laughed. "I think they are right, Mr. Bond. You had
better let them have their way."
"I am so grateful to you, Mother, and to these little folks that it
would be useless for me even to try to thank you for this happy ending
of all my worry."
"Daddy, my dollie's nose is broken and her hand, and her hair comes
off, and----and a tea party's going to be."
"Then it is time you had a new doll, isn't it? My little girl has very
few toys. Taking her with me on my trips, I have found that picture
books and a doll or two are the things most easily packed in a trunk.
But now I should like to get her whatever the other little ones have;
and since Wilhelmina and Mary have spent some time at boarding school,
perhaps they will make a list of the toys they think suitable."
"Oh, we shall be glad to do that, Mr. Bond. I am not great for girls'
things, you know. I like boys' toys and games better. But
Mary----well, I guess there isn't much in the way of things girls like
that she hasn't had. You see, Uncle Frank just dotes on Mary. He
thinks the twins are pretty fine, but his Mary! Well, I tell her that
she has two fathers."
"You make me very anxious to meet Uncle Frank," laughed Mr. Bond, "and
I shall feel perfectly safe in leaving the choice of toys to you, Mary.
By the way, I think the Sisters will find in Dorothy's trunk everything
mentioned on the list in the catalog; but those, I take it, are all
very necessary articles. If you girls can think of anything else that
will make my little one happier or more comfortable, put it on the list
with the toys. I must hurry away now if I am to catch the next train
to the city."
Returning to Bird-a-Lea, Mary at once found paper and pencil and sat
down beside Wilhelmina on the steps to make out the list. The little
ones crowded around to see that nothing was forgotten.
"Doll, doll bed, doll carriage--" Mary read aloud.
"A little trunk."
"Yes, Beth, that's a good idea."
"And a shootcase, so when Dor'fy brings her chile over to stay all
night with our chilluns."
"And----and----oh, I know! A little broom, so she can help us sweep
the nice house we's going to make on the side porch."
"And a cute little carpet sweeper 'zactly the same as Liza's big one,
and a mop to rub all around the floor----"
"But you won't need a sweeper for the floor of the porch, Berta."
"Oh, we's going to have a nice rug in our house, Mary."
"But a broom--you will have two extra brooms when Dick and Jack go
home, Beth."
"Why, Willy-mean, Uncle buyed those for them. They's theirs for keeps."
"But the boys have brooms and garden sets at home, and we thought it
would be so nice if you and Berta would keep them here for them so they
will have them when they come to visit you again. The boys will be
glad to lend them to Dorothy, I know."
"Course we will," agreed Dick. "But I should think Dor'thy would want
a ball----and----"
"Oh, _I_ know! A billy cart same as Dick has."
"But a goat cart is for boys, Berta. Besides only one can ride in it
at a time. Father is going to get us something ever so much nicer, but
I can't tell what it is just now. They have one at Sunnymead, too."
"Oh, oh! what is it, Mary? Please tell us. _Please_!"
"But that wouldn't be fair, twinnies. Father is going to have it a
surprise for you."
"We doesn't like big folkses to make s'prises so very well," murmured
Berta.
"And perhaps the 'big folkses' don't like some of those you make,
either," laughed Wilhelmina. "There is Aunt Mandy to get you ready for
dinner."
"Now, we can think, Wilhelmina."
"But some of the things they said are all right. We have enough toys
down there, for with the picture books Dorothy has, her shelf in the
toy press in the little ones' playroom will be pretty well filled. The
doll bed and carriage ought to be the folding kind, so they will fit on
the shelf. How about the other things her father spoke of?"
"It would be nice if she had a little dressing table and a small rocker
instead of the stand and chair at her place in the dormitory. Many of
the little ones bring their own."
"But a dressing table would be too high for her, wouldn't it?"
"I know just the thing. A large-sized, doll's chiffonnier with a
mirror on it. She can keep her handkerchiefs and ribbons and comb and
brush and such things in the little drawers. We shall ask Mr. Bond to
get a white one and a little, white, wicker rocker." Mary looked over
the list. "I think that ought to be enough to do her until Christmas.
The children simply can't have all the toys they would like to bring to
school with them. There isn't room for so many."
"Anyone would think that there ought to be all kinds of room in a big
building like that; but with two hundred boarders besides all the
Sisters, there's not much to spare, that's certain. And not one of our
class back yet. Trust them to stay out until the last toll of the
bell. The ones who live in the city won't show up until five to nine
Monday morning. I wish Mother wasn't going home Tuesday. Mother
Madeline would let me stay here as long as she does. But she's a dear
to promise that I may come over every Wednesday to stay all night and
Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. I must try to behave better
than I did last year, or she might change her mind."