They left the cottage, promising to study their parts very carefully,
and as they walked down the avenue they repeated some of the pleasing
lines which they remembered.

Suddenly Reginald spoke.

"I've got to go back; I've left my ball on my desk," he said.

"Don't go back," Katie said, "you won't want it to-night."

"P'raps I will, and anyway I'm going after it," said Reginald, stoutly;
"you wait for me."

"Oh, we can't, Reginald," Katie said, "but you can overtake us if you
hurry."

Reginald was already running toward the cottage, so he did not hear what
Katie said. He pushed open the little gate and ran in, and up the steps
on to the piazza.

"I left my ball on my desk," he said to Aunt Charlotte, who was standing
in the hall.

"The schoolroom is open," she said with a smile, and Reginald rushed
past her, and hurried to his desk. The ball was not on it, nor was it
in the desk, as careful hunting proved.

"I left it right on top of my desk," he declared to Aunt Charlotte, who
had followed, and now stood beside him.