isitor with
Molly when the rules were not so strictly enforced, for in the last
warm days of the term Miss Ainslee was lenient and Polly thought school
life perfectly delightful with easy lessons and ever so many
interesting things said and done by both teacher and pupils.

The two little girls were sitting side by side, listening attentively
to Miss Ainslee's account of the early Britons, when the door softly
opened and a tall young man appeared. He looked smilingly around.
Molly gave the stifled exclamation: "Uncle Dick!" Polly jumped to her
feet but sat down again.

It was a hot morning. The breeze scarcely stirred the leaves of the
wistaria vines over the windows. Once in a while a robin gurgled out
his cheerful song which Molly always declared reminded her of cherry
juice; the little girls in thin frocks fanned themselves behind the
rows of desks. Miss Ainslee's back was toward the door and she kept on
with the reading, not having heard the intruder who presently made a
step forward and gave a roguish glance in Molly's direction, to that
young person's confusion, for the color mounted to her cheeks. What
was he going to do she wondered. He gave an apologetic little cough
which caused Miss Ainslee to look up from her book with a surprised
expression.

"Isn't it most time for recess?" asked Uncle Dick gently.

Miss Ainslee glanced at the clock. "Why yes," she replied, her
surprise more evident.

"That's what my sister said, and as it is such a warm morning we
thought--she thought some ice cream would be refreshing to you all, so
she has sent over a freezer; I told the man to set it outside."

Pleased giggles issued from the little girls behind the desks.

"I never thought," continued Dick, "but perhaps I ought--we ought to
have furnished dishes and spoons. You couldn't eat it from the
ink-wells, I suppose." He turned to the children who again giggled
delightedly.

"Oh, I think we can manage in an emergency," said Miss Ainslee. "We
have a small cooking class here on Saturday mornings and there is quite
a supply of dishes in the cupboard yonder. I think we can make them go
around."

Dick's smile grew wistful as he said: "It was pretty hot coming over
here, but I don't suppose you could ask me to have some of the cream
with you; I'm not a little girl, you know, and I perceive you don't
take boys."

A tremulous little smile danced about the corners of Miss Ainslee's
mouth as she moved toward the