Peggy in Her Blue Frock | Page 5

you know about that!" said the boy. "Why should I
know anything about your cat? Maybe I have cabbages in this basket."
"Cabbages wouldn't mew," said Peggy, as the occupant of the basket
gave a long wail.
"It's our cat, I know her voice!" cried Alice in delight.
"Won't you come in and see mother?" Peggy asked, as the boy stepped
inside the small entry and put his basket down.
"Can't stop." He had pulled his cap off politely when he came into the
house, and Peggy saw that his hair was as yellow as her own. She
wished hers might have been cropped as short.

"Oh, dear! what fun boys had! They could go out on the rainiest days."
The boy touched his cap and went quickly down the walk. Peggy's
glance followed him regretfully. He was a big boy; he must be two
years older than she was, just a nice size to play with.
"And we never asked him his name or if he had brothers and sisters,"
Alice said.
It was a lost opportunity and the children both regretted it, but they had
been too much taken up with the return of Lady Jane to think of
anything else at the moment. They had opened the basket and Lady
Jane was purring about the place.
"You darling!" Alice cried as she stroked her gray striped coat. "You
do like us best, don't you, after all?"
There was an odd expression in Lady Jane's green eyes. If she could
have spoken, she would have said, "I like old friends, but I do like old
places better still." And the very next morning she disappeared again.
CHAPTER III
WHY PEGGY WORE BLUE FROCKS
Early in April there came a very hot day, and this reminded Mrs. Owen
that she must be looking over the children's summer dresses to see what
new ones they would need, for it would take some time to make them,
with all the other work she had to do. She went up into the large
store-closet, which was all they had in the way of an attic, and she
unpacked the trunk that held the dresses. There were only four of
Peggy's, for she was very hard on her clothes, and she had stained or
torn several of them. There were six of Alice's in excellent condition.
They were a little short for her, but there were tucks that could be let
down. Peggy had two white dresses, a pink one, and a plaid dress. She
tried on one of the white dresses first and pranced about the room with
it. Her legs looked longer than ever, for the skirt was several inches
above her knees.

"You look just like a mushroom, Peggy," said Alice.
"Oh, dear! I didn't know I'd grown such a lot," said Peggy ruefully, "but
you can let down the tucks, mother," she added hopefully.
"But there aren't any tucks. I let those down last summer."
"I guess I'll have to have that dress," said Alice joyously.
She was so fond of her sister that she liked Peggy's clothes better than
her own.
"Oh, dear!" said Peggy. "I like it so much because it's smocked. But I
hope I can wear the dotted muslin. That's my favorite dress."
But, alas, the dotted muslin was only half an inch longer than the cotton
rep, and there were no tucks in that either.
Peggy skipped about the room again, and she tried to persuade her
mother that it would be possible for her to wear the dress.
"I don't mind if it is rather short, mother," she said.
"I can't have you going around with skirts like a ballet dancer."
"But you could let the hem down, or put in insertion, or something,"
said Peggy.
"But the waist is too small for you, and the dress will be just right for
Alice."
The pink dress and the plaid one were too small for Peggy, too, so
Alice became the proud possessor of Peggy's frocks, which would fit
her very well after tucks had been taken in them.
"I've three pink dresses now and four white ones and two plaids and a
yellow," said Alice.
"And I've nothing at all," said Peggy.

"It's too bad," said Alice, "but yours will all be new."
The first chance Mrs. Owen had to go to the village she said she would
buy the materials for Peggy's summer frocks.
"I've got to get something for working dresses for myself, too," she
said.
She took the children with her, and they had a joyous time, for it was
one of those sunshiny afternoons when everything was so gay and
cheerful that it seemed to Peggy as if the whole world were smiling.
The sun seemed positively to laugh, and the blue