MR. KING HAS A LITTLE PLAN FOR POLLY


"Oh Jasper," exclaimed Polly, clasping her hands, "do you suppose we'll
ever get to a piano where it's all alone, and nobody wants to play on
it--"

"But just you and I," finished Jasper. "I declare I don't know. You see
we don't stay still long enough in any one place to hire a decent one;
and besides, father said, when we started, that it was better for us to
rest and travel about without any practising this summer. You know he
did, Polly."

"I know it," said Polly; "but oh, if we could just play once in a
while," she added mournfully.

"Well, we can't," said Jasper, savagely; "you know we tried that at
Brussels, when we thought everybody had gone off. And those half a
dozen idiots came and stared at us through the glass door."

"And then they came in," added Polly, with a little shiver at the
recollection. "But that big fat man with the black beard was the worst,
Jasper." She glanced around as if she expected to see him coming down
the long parlour.

"Well, he didn't hear much; there didn't any of them," said Jasper;
"that's some small satisfaction, because you hopped off the piano stool
and ran away."