Five Little Peppers at School Part 39

So they ran into the den; and Jasper got out the long program all ready to be pinned up beside the improvised stage, on the evening of the great event, and spread it on the table, Polly meanwhile clearing off the books.

"Let's see." He wrinkled up his brow, running his finger down the whole length. "Now, when I make the new program, Mr. Dyce goes first."

Polly stood quite still at that. "Oh, Jasper, we can't do it--no, never in all this world."

"Why, Polly,"--he turned suddenly--"yes, we can just as easily. See, Polly."

"We can't spoil that lovely program that took you so long to make, for anything," said Polly, in a decisive fas.h.i.+on. "Phronsie wouldn't want it," she added.

"Phronsie isn't to know anything about it," said Jasper, just as decidedly.

"Well, but Jasper, you can't make another; you haven't the time," said Polly in great distress, and wis.h.i.+ng she hadn't said anything about the changes. "I didn't think there would have to be a new program made."

"Oh, Polly, I think we'd better have a new one," said Jasper, who was very particular about everything.

"I thought we were going to have changes announced from the stage," said Polly. "Oh, why can't we, Jasper? I'm sure they do that very often."

"Well, that's when the changes come at the last moment," said Jasper reluctantly.

"Well, I'm sure this is the last moment," said Polly. "The entertainment is to-morrow night, and we've ever so much to do yet. _Please_, Jasper."

That "please, Jasper," won the day.

"All right, Polly," he said. "Well, now let's see what ought to come after Tom's song."

"Well, Phronsie is very anxious to hear Pickering's piece; I know, because I heard her tell Mamsie so."

"Why, she has heard Pick recite that ever so many times since he learned it for our school exhibition," said Jasper.

"And don't you know that's just the very reason why she wants it again?"

said Polly, with a little laugh.

"Yes, of course," said Jasper, laughing too. "Well, she must have it then. So down goes Pick." He ran to the table drawer and drew out a big sheet of paper. "First, Mr. Dyce, then Tom Beresford, then Pickering Dodge," writing fast.

"And then," said Polly, running up to look over his shoulder, "Phronsie wants dreadfully to hear Tom play on his banjo."

"Oh, Polly,"--Jasper threw back his head to look at her--"I don't believe there'll be time for all that; you know the music by Miss Taylor comes first as an overture. We can't change that."

"Why," exclaimed Polly in dismay, "we must, Jasper, get Tom's banjo in; and there's Percy's piece. Phronsie wouldn't miss that for _anything_."

"Why, we shall have the whole program in if we keep on," said Jasper, looking at her in dismay.

"Oh, Jasper, Papa Fisher says that Phronsie may stay in twenty minutes.

Just think; we can do a lot in twenty minutes."

"But somebody is bound to be late, so we can't begin on time. n.o.body ever does, Polly."

"We must," said Polly pa.s.sionately, "begin on time to-morrow night, Jasper."

"We'll try," said Jasper, as cheerfully as he could manage.

"And there's your piece. Why, Jasper, Phronsie told me herself that she _must_ hear yours."

"Well, and so she told me that she'd rather hear you play your piece,"

said Jasper; "but you and I, Polly, as long as we change the program, can't come in among the first."

"No, of course not," said Polly. "But, oh, Jasper," and she gave a sigh, "it's too bad that you can't recite yours, for it is most beautiful!"

Polly clasped her hands and sighed again.

"Well, that's not to be thought of," said Jasper. "Now I tell you how we'll fix it, Polly," he said quickly.

"How?" asked Polly gloomily.

"Why, we have twenty minutes that Phronsie can stay in. Now, let's mark off all those things that she wants, except yours and mine, even if they come beyond the time; and then we'll draw just those that will get into the twenty minutes."

"Oh, Jasper, what a fine idea!" exclaimed Polly, all her enthusiasm returning.

"Well, mark off half of 'em, and I'll write the others," said Jasper, tearing off strips from his big sheet of paper. So Polly and he fell to work; and presently "Pick," and "Tom" ("that's for the song," said Polly), and "Banjo," and "Mr. Dyce," and "Percy," went down on the little strips.

"Oh, and I forgot," said Polly, raising her head from her last strip, "Phronsie wanted to hear Clare very much indeed."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "OH, I DO HOPE I SHALL DRAW THE RIGHT ONE, JASPER."]

"Well, we should have had the whole program with a vengeance," said Jasper, bursting into a laugh. "Well, put him down, Polly."

So "Clare" went down on another strip, and then they were all jumbled up in a little Chinese bowl on the bookcase.

"Now, you draw first, Polly," said Jasper.

"Oh, no, let us choose for first draw," said Polly; "that's the way to be absolutely right."

So she ran back to the table and tore off two more strips, one short and the other long, and fixed them in between her hands.

"You didn't see?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Not a wink," said Jasper, laughing.

So Polly ran back, and Jasper drew the short one. "There; you have it, Polly!" he cried gleefully. "Oh, that's good!"

"Oh, I do hope I shall draw the right one, Jasper," she said, standing on tiptoe, her fingers trembling over the bowl.

"They are all of them good," said Jasper encouragingly. So Polly suddenly picked out one; and together they read, "Tom."

"Fine!" they shouted.

"Oh, isn't that perfectly splendid?" cried Polly, "because, you see, Phronsie did so very much wish to hear Tom sing," just as if she hadn't mentioned that fact before. "Now, Jasper."

"I'm in much the same predicament as you were," said Jasper, pausing, his hand over the bowl. "If I shouldn't choose the right one, Polly!"

"They are all of them good," said Polly, laughing at his face.