The Twins in the South Part 21

"Tonight when we go to our rooms. If we are the lucky ones we find notes under our pillows."

"My, I mean your Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot!" Janet exclaimed, "I wish it were over."

"So do I. The suspense is awful. Of course we all have a chance, but it's such a little one."

"My hand is so shakey now that I'll never be able even to lift my bow, let alone string it," Janet complained laughingly.

"Well, never mind, darling, your twin will probably get up and forget every line she ever knew," Phyllis comforted.

"Let's go out for a walk, and don't let's talk about it," Daphne suggested suddenly. "I had a letter from mother today," she began, and until lunch time they discussed home plans, for this was the last Sat.u.r.day before the holidays.

At two o'clock they went to the gym.

The basket ball game was long and uninteresting. The New Wing supplied most of the players, and it looked as if they would be the final winners of the cup.

Then came the Archery Contest. Once more Janet beat the Red Twins. The change of bows hurt their form. It was never necessary to do it again.

Sally's luck held, and she made a very good score, but there were so many girls, Juniors and Seniors competing, that neither Janet nor Sally felt at all hopeful.

At dinner there was a quiet lull over the dining-room. Hilltop insisted that her girls be good losers above everything else, and there was very little grumbling, but every girl tonight was busy with her own thoughts.

At last the recitations came. Girl after girl stood on the stage in the ballroom and recited lines from Shakespeare.

Not until Phyllis stood quietly before them, were they conscious of a personality. She said Portia's famous speech simply, but with understanding. She made the girls listen, and when she finished they gave her her just dues.

Daphne followed her, and as she told the story of Little Ellie, Janet felt again the spell of the Enchanted Kingdom.

Daphne's beauty always called forth instant appreciation from her school-mates, and tonight they were more than generous in their applause.

Dancing ended the evening, but tonight there was no lingering after sweet dreams had chimed out bed-time.

The girls hurried to their rooms.

Janet and Phyllis stood and looked at each other, and then dived under their pillows.

Only Janet found a note. She opened it listlessly. What was the fun if Phyllis had missed out? She read that she was duly elected to the Archery Team.

"Oh, Phil!" she whispered, as she dropped her note carelessly, but she did not have time to finish, before Sally and Daphne rushed in, both flouris.h.i.+ng notes. They stopped aghast at the sight of the Twins.

Phyllis managed a very little smile.

"Congratulations," she said.

"Phil, do you mean?" Daphne demanded and poor Phyllis nodded.

Ann and Prue and Gladys came dancing in. Gladys had made the Archery Team as a subst.i.tute.

They stopped, too shocked and surprised at the news of Phyllis's failure.

"But you deserved it, Phil," Ann insisted.

"Nonsense, I did no such thing. You don't deserve things just because you want them," Phyllis replied. "Goodness me, I've enough joy in your good luck to last me a life-time. So do forget about me."

"What's that?" Gladys demanded, and she swooped down under the bed and stood up with a note for Phyllis in her hand.

"It just fell down," she cried. "Read it, Phil, quick!"

Phyllis read. She was a member of the Dramatic Club.

"Oh-oh, Jane!" was all she could find to say.

CHAPTER XIX-The Tennis Games

Christmas came, and with it the joys of long holidays and home. The Twins had a particularly good time, for Auntie Mogs, Mrs. Ladd, and Mrs.

Hillis all entertained for them, and Mr. Keith, Donald's father, gave them a marvelous party.

They found Chuck very much changed and inclined to be superior, but it was not long before he was back on his old footing with the Twins, showing a marked preference as always for Phyllis.

The last four days of the vacation were spent at Major Harrison's, Ann's uncle, who had surpa.s.sed all expectations by inviting Gladys and Prue, the Twins, and Daphne and Sally to stay with his niece for the entire three weeks.

They had all accepted for the last four days, and glorious days they had been. There were horses to ride, dogs to play with, and for Janet the library of her dreams.

Major Harrison, a taciturn old gentleman, had been very gruff at first, but towards the end of their visit he had sought out their companions.h.i.+p, and seemed to enjoy their good times as much as they did.

Janet was his especial pet. He rode with her, and together they visited the kennels each morning; and when Janet showed her skill in caring for a sick puppy, he had been so pleased that he had given the little brown-and-white ball to her. She had accepted the gift delightedly, but it was understood that the dog should stay at Glenside, for her own Boru would not welcome a rival in New York, and she could not keep him at Hilltop.

They had great fun at the christening, when the puppy was duly named Janet and recorded in the club annals.

After Christmas came the long term at school. But Easter was early, and thanks to the beautiful weather that came soon after the first of the year, the girls did not feel the usual mid-year strain.

When this chapter opens, Spring was in full sway at Hilltop. The great bushes of lilac that fringed the lawn were ready to blossom, and everywhere spring flowers added their brilliance to the deep blue and white of the sky.

Sports Week was in progress. Basket Ball Day had come and gone, leaving a victory to the new wing. The relay races had been run the day before, another victory for them.

Only Archery and Tennis remained, and unless the old wing won both they would be beaten at sports.

"I don't care as much about tennis as I do about archery," called Sally as they dressed that morning. All the doors were open and the remarks floated from room to room.

"Oh, I do, as a point, if nothing else," Ann called back from the end of the hall.

"Do me up, somebody," she added, as she struggled with a refractory b.u.t.ton at the back of her white linen dress.

"If the new wing wins points in sports this year, I am not coming back,"

Gladys announced. "Here, Ann, turn 'round and stand still, I'll do you up. Think how awful it would be to have the Red Twins gloating all next term," she added. "I simply couldn't stand it."

"Who plays them in the finals in doubles?" Prue asked.