bout the poll
parrot," she added with a smile.

Phyllis, who had been talking, very much against her will, to one of
the teachers, joined them and nodded to Taffy. Janet noticed that she
looked surprised and pleased.

Daphne smiled lazily.

"I like your twin, Phyllis," she drawled and then left them.

"Now isn't that just like Taffy?" Sally demanded.

"Not a bit," Eleanor protested. "Taffy likes very few people."

"Well, you know what I mean," Sally insisted. "It's like her to say a
thing like that and then leave."

It was not until Janet and Phyllis were alone in the living-room that
Phyllis explained.

"Daphne Hillis is the most popular girl in school," she said, "but I
think she has fewer friends than any other girl, and that's what makes
it strange."

"But if she's so popular?" Janet queried.

"Oh, she could have dozens of friends, but she doesn't seem to want
them. She's queer and different somehow; none of us understand her,
but we all love her."

Janet looked out of the window and smiled softly to herself. If being
different from other girls meant being like Daphne, why, being
different was not so bad after all.

She didn't even bother to turn her head when Phyllis exclaimed angrily,

"I think I hate Muriel Grey."

CHAPTER VI

TOM'S LAST DAY

"Tommy, I call it just plain mean, for you to go away." Phyllis was
perched on the arm of her brother's chair, and she gave him a little
shake to emphasize her words.

Tom, by a deft twist of a wrist and a long reach with his other arm,
laid her very gently on the floor at his feet and held her so that she
could not move.

"Mustn't call your big brother names," he chided. "See what happens to
little girls when they do?"

"Oh, Tommy, let me up, you wretch!" Phyllis struggled, but she was
quite powerless.

"Janet, come and help me," she called. "Tom is killing me."

"What good do you think Janet can do?" Tom inquired calmly, as Janet
could be heard running down the stairs.

"I don't know," Phyllis confessed, "but she will do something. Oh,
Janet, save me! Look what Tommy is doing to me."

Janet stood in the doorway and laughed, then she made a dive for her
brother, but instead of trying to use strength she tickled him.

"Here, stop; that's no fair," he protested, but Janet only renewed her
efforts, and Phyllis, taking advantage of his helplessness, jumped up.
After that it was only a matter of seconds before Tommy was on the so