What Katy Did At School | Page 7

letter had come from Cousin Helen; how Daisy
White had four kittens as white as herself; how Dorry had finished his
water-wheel,--a wheel which turned in the bath-tub, and was "really
ingenious," papa said; and Phil had "swapped" one of his bantam
chicks for on of Eugene Slack's Bramapootras. It was not till they were
all seated round the tea-table that anybody demanded an account of the
visit. Elsie felt this a relief, and was just thinking how delicious every
thing was, from the sliced peaches to the clinking ice in the
milk-pitcher, when papa put the dreaded question,--
"Well, Elsie, so you decided to come, after all. How was it? Why didn't
you stay your week out? You look pale, it seems to me. Have you been
enjoying yourself too much? Tell us all about it."
Elsie looked at papa, and papa looked at Elsie. Dr. Carr's eyes twinkled
just a little, but otherwise he was perfectly grave. Elsie began to speak,
then to laugh, then to cry, and the explanation, when it came, was given
in a mingled burst of all three.
"O papa, it was horrid! That is, Mrs. Worrett was just as kind as could
be, but so fat; and oh, such a pig! I never imagined such a pig! And the
calico on that horrid sofa was so slippery that I rolled off five times,
and once I hurt myself real badly. And we had a feather-bed; and I was
so homesick that I cried all the evening."
"That must have been gratifying to Mrs. Worrett," put in Dr. Carr.
"Oh! she didn't know it, papa. She was asleep, and snoring so that
nobody could hear. And the flies!--such flies, Katy!--and the
mosquitoes, and our window wouldn't open till I put in a nail. I am so
glad to get home! I never want to go into the country again, never,
never! Oh, if Alexander hadn't come!--why, Clover, what are you
laughing for? And Dorry,--I think it's very unkind," and Elsie ran to
Katy, hid her face, and began to cry.
"Never mind, darling, they didn't mean to be unkind. Papa, her hands
are quite hot; you must give her something." Katy's voice shook a little;

but she would not hurt Elsie's feeling by showing that she was amused.
Papa gave Elsie "something" before she went to bed,-- a very mild dose
I fancy; for doctors' little girls, as a general rule, do not take medicine,
and next day she was much better. As the adventures of the Conic
Section visit leaked out bit by bit, the family laughed till it seemed as if
they would never stop. Phil was forever enacting the pig, standing on
his triumphant hind legs, and patting Elsie's head with his nose; and
many and many a time, "It will end like your visit to Mrs. Worrett,"
proved a useful check when Elsie was in a self-willed mood and bent
on some scheme which for the moment struck her as delightful. For one
of the good things about our childish mistakes is, that each one teaches
us something; and so, blundering on, we grow wiser, till, when the time
comes, we are ready to take our places among the wonderful grown-up
people who never make mistakes.
CHAPTER II.
A NEW YEAR AND A NEW PLAN.
When summer lingers on into October, it often seems as if winter,
anxious to catch a glimpse of her, hurries a little; and so people are
cheated out of their autumn. It was so that year. Almost as soon as it
ceased to be hot it began to be cold. The leaves, instead of drifting
away in soft, dying colors, like sunset clouds, turned yellow all at once;
and were whirled off the trees in a single gusty night, leaving every
thing bare and desolate. Thanksgiving came; and before the smell of
the turkey was fairly out of the house, it was time to hang up stockings
and dress the Christmas tree. They had a tree that year in honor of
Katy's being downstairs. Cecy, who had gone away to boarding-school,
came home; and it was all delightful, except that the days flew too fast.
Clover said it seemed to her very queer that there was so much less
time than usual in the world. She couldn't imagine what had become of
it: there used to be plenty. And she was certain that Dorry must have
been tinkering all the clocks,--they struck so often.
It was just after New Year that Dr. Carr walked in one day with a letter
in his hand, and remarked: "Mr. and Mrs. Page are coming to stay with

us."
"Mr. and Mrs. Page," repeated Katy; "who are they, papa? Did I ever
see them?"
"Once, when you were four years old,