"Oh, auntie and Molly and all?"

"Auntie is rather nice, only she is a little bit countrified,"
returned Katharine critically; "and Molly is well enough; but what
a funny little thing that Polly Adams is! She acts more like a
boy, the way she goes rushing around with Alan."

"I like her, though," said Jessie.

"She isn't so bad," answered Katharine thoughtfully; "she's a
good-hearted little thing, even if she isn't like the Omaha girls.
I do like Alan, though, Jessie; don't you? He is a splendid-
looking fellow, and has ever so much fun in him. He seems ever so
much older than he really is."

"Perhaps it's because he has been sick a good deal," suggested
Jessie.

"It may be that is it," assented Katharine, pulling off the silver
bangles that clanked like a criminal's fetters at every motion of
her hand; "but he doesn't look as if he'd been ill a day in his
life. I'm so glad there's a boy in the family; for they always
keep things going. I wonder what our school will be like."

The two girls speculated on the future until they heard Alan, in
the next room, kick off his shoes and let them drop, with a thud,
on the floor. Then, tired with their journey, they fell asleep.