"Or watch her little sister in the Jack Frost song," said another.

"We will shut our eyes!" exclaimed another.

"And the middle-sized and short girls need not choose Susie in the
games," came from another.

"We will tell them not to. They will choose Dolly," cried a fifth.

"But Dolly looks so horrid, I am much ashamed of her," was Hannah
Straight Tree's answer.

Cordelia Running Bird heard the fierce discussion through the open door,
near which she knelt at work, and the bitter tears ran down her face.

When at length her work was done as well as she was able, and the last
stair wiped, she went back upstairs on tiptoe to inspect her floor and
see if it was dry. She was met by Hannah Straight Tree on the upper
landing, carrying a pail of scrub water, mixed with ashes, from the
dormitory. Hannah set it on the top stair, and then glanced wickedly at
Cordelia through half-closed eyes that meant mischief.

"What if I should tip it over?" she said.

"Ee! You must not. It would freeze, and I should have to scald my hands
with too hot water, thawing it!" exclaiming Cordelia Running Bird,
rushing to prevent her.

In her haste to keep the pail from being overturned Cordelia hit it with
her foot, upsetting it herself. The stairs were deluged with the