Polly and the Princess | Page 8

and it's awful. You felt better the day after the
wedding."
"Ye-s, but--"
"We're going! It's decided!" Polly jumped up. "Say quick who we'll
invite, and then I'll run down and beg permission to go on a
picnic--unless you'd rather."
"Mercy--no! I guess that's one reason why I haven't been away; I
haven't had life enough to want to unwind red tape."
"I shall love it," laughed Polly. "Shall we ask Mrs. Albright? She's
nice."
"Yes, and how would you like Mrs. Adlerfeld? I think she's pretty
lonely."
"First-rate! She is sweet, and she talks the dearest way. Hurry up now,
and get ready! I'll be back in no time with the passports."
"Why, I don't know," Miss Sniffen hesitated, "How far is it, do you
say?"
"We take the trolley out to Grafton Street," Polly explained slowly,
"and then we go 'cross lots just a little way to the dearest grove and a
lovely little brook that tumbles over the stones--oh, it's beautiful! Can't
you go with us, Miss Sniffen?" cried Polly in a burst of generosity,
shivering the next minute for fear her invitation would be accepted!
"No, thank you," actually smiled the superintendent; "my business
doesn't include picnics, and I doubt whether it would be wise for Miss
Sterling to go so far away from the Home. It might cause trouble--and
unnecessary expense; the others may go if they wish."
"Oh, Miss Sniffen, please let Miss Sterling go! That's one reason why I

want it, because I think it will do her good," wheedled Polly, adding
tactfully, "Father says it often makes the nerves better to get the
muscles tired."
"Yes, I think that myself. Of course, it would do her no real harm, if
you could manage to keep her from getting wrought up and having one
of her tantrums."
"Oh, I promise you I'll bring her home as good as new!" declared Polly
recklessly. And with profuse thanks she darted softly away.
The four walked sedately down the long stairs in repressed glee, the
three ladies waiting on the piazza while Polly registered their names,
destination, time of starting, and expected return, in the daybook on the
secretary's desk.
"Red tape all wound up!" she finally announced in a whisper, and the
quartette proceeded to the corner below, to be in readiness for the car.
Juanita Sterling appeared to have lost her weak nerves somewhere on
the way, as the four left the road behind them and made a path through
the clover into the distance.
"I want to sit right down and enjoy it!" she exclaimed, dropping among
the blossoms. "Hear that bird! It's a bobolink--it is! Oh, me! Oh, my! I
haven't heard a bobolink for--I'm not going to bother to think how long.
It is glorious!"
"This isn't anything compared to the woods and the brook," asserted
Polly.
She put down her lunch-basket and snipped off some clover heads.
"Those are full of honey, Miss Nita,--taste! They aren't buggy a mite."
Like bees they sipped and sipped, and laughed and said foolish things
like children at a merry-making.
Suddenly Miss Sterling sprang to her feet.

"The day is going," she cried, "and we must get there quick! Come!"
The "just a little way" of Polly's lengthened on and on until the three
who were not accustomed to country fields looked in dismay toward
the long line of trees which seemed so very far off.
"Are you fearfully tired?" Polly would reiterate, and "Not a bit!" Miss
Sterling would lie with complacency, while Mrs. Albright grew
wondrously jolly in her effort to keep everybody from realizing the
truth.
When, finally, they stepped into the dim, cool wood, melodious with
the gurgle and splash of hurrying water and the lilting of unseen birds,
nobody remembered the hot, weary way she had come.
Miss Sterling, stretched upon a bed of vines and moss, announced that
she was in "heaven."
Little Mrs. Adlerfeld looked across in answering sympathy.
"It makes me so glad and happy, it hurts," she said, her hand upon her
breast.
"I knew you'd love it!" exulted Polly, dropping lightly between the two
and laying a hand upon each. "Let's come out here every week!"
Nobody objected. Mrs. Albright wagged an approving smile, Mrs.
Adlerfeld continued her dreamy gaze into the brook, the invalid was
too drowsy to speak.
"Go to sleep, all of you!" Polly commanded gayly. "I'll have a
red-and-green luncheon for you when you wake up!"
She bounded off along the slippery pine-needled path and disappeared
behind a curtain of foliage.
Miss Sterling awoke with a start--where was she? Then the events of
the morning flashed into view, and she smiled contentedly.

Mrs. Adlerfeld, leaning back against a stone, was peacefully nodding,
and a gentle snore from the other of the trio told