eased all my life and I'm
bomb-proof. But Peggy Stewart's made of different stuff. She hasn't been
with girls very much, and never with a _silly_ one before. Give her
time and she'll understand them a good sight better than they'll ever
understand her. And the boys she has known are not the kind who are ever
likely to want to know _you_. So there's not much use wasting time
explaining things. But I tell you just this, I won't stand for Peggy
being run even a little bit, and you can circulate that bit of
information broadcast. She's the finest ever, and the girl who can call
her friend is in luck up to her ears. So understand: let her alone or
reckon with me."

"Do you think we are a lot of crazy schoolboys and expect to settle our
disagreements with a regular fist-a-cuff bout? You must come from a very
queer place."

"Where _I_ come from doesn't matter in the least. Peggy is the one under
discussion and you know where she comes from and who she is. _What_ she
is you'll never know."

"I don't see why she should be so very hard to understand."

"She isn't--for people with enough sense. Now just take one good look at
those pictures. Is there a weak face among them? One of two things will
happen to you if you ever happen to meet the originals: they'll either
make you feel like a silly little kid or they won't take a bit of
notice of you. It will depend upon how you happen to strike them."

"Oh, are they such, wonders as all that?"

"If you ever get an invitation down to Annapolis you'll have a chance to
find out. Peggy and I have about made up our minds to have a house party
during the holidays, but we haven't quite made up our minds which girls
we are going to like well enough to ask to it. Tanta suggested it. She
is anxious to know our friends, and we are anxious to have her. She
sizes people up pretty quickly and we are always mighty glad to have her
opinion."

Polly spoke rapidly and the effect upon Helen was peculiar. From the
pugnacious attitude of an outraged canary, ready to do battle, she was
transformed into the sweetest, meekest love-bird imaginable. A veritable
little preening, posing, oh-do-admire-me creature, and at Polly's last
words she jumped from the box and clasping her hands, cried:

"A house-party! You are planning a house-party? Oh, how perfectly
adorable. Oh, which girls are you going to invite? Oh, I'll never, never
tease Peggy again as long as I live. I'll be perfectly lovely to her and
I'