throat. "Won't it be fun, taking Janet to all the shops
and having luncheon down town. I know she'll adore it."

The morning passed quickly, as mornings always do when they are spent
in shopping, and Phyllis was barely home in time to receive her friends
at three o'clock.

Muriel Grey arrived first. She was a short plump girl of fourteen,
with lots of fluffy yellow hair and big china-blue eyes.

"Oh, Phyllis, I'm so glad to see you. We miss you terribly at school.
It isn't a bit nice without you!" she exclaimed as she kissed Phyllis.

"Well, I'll be back Monday," Phyllis replied. "I've missed you too.
Sit down and tell me all the news--oh, wait a minute. Here comes
Eleanor, and Rosamond is with her."

The two girls who were just coming up the steps were both dressed in
dark blue and their long braids hung down their backs and were both
tied with bright green ribbons to match their green tams. They were
not sisters, but they had been friends for so long that it was a joke
at school to say that they were beginning to look like each other.

Phyllis was very fond of them both for they were great fun, and their
endless ideas were always a source of wonder to their class.

"Hello, Phyllis, here we are," Rosamond greeted. "Couldn't get here a
minute sooner."

"Old Ducky Lucky requested us to remain after class as usual," Eleanor
explained.

It all sounded so natural to Phyllis's ear that she giggled
delightedly. It was fun seeing the girls again, and she realized for
the first time that she had missed them unconsciously during the past
month.

"Funny old Ducky Lucky," she laughed. "Is she just as fussy as ever?"

"Well, if you want to call it fussy, she is," Rosamond groaned. "I can
think of a better word, only I won't."

Ducky Lucky was the disrespectful nickname for Miss Baxter, the
mathematics teacher at Miss Harding's school.

"Sally's coming later," Eleanor said, as they all entered the living
room. "She said to tell you not to dare say anything about your twin
until she got here. She doesn't want to miss a word. Of course we're
all fearfully excited, but to hear Sally talk you would think that she
was the one that had made the discovery."

"That's just like Sally,"--Phyllis laughed. "I'm crazy to see her.
I've only talked to her over the phone since I got back, and you all
know it's no fun talking to Sally unless you can watch her eyes."

"Good old Sally,"--Eleanor smiled at the memory o