it would blend so wonderfully with the Italian sky and
the pastel colors of the old, old Florentine buildings, when they were
interrupted by Gyp and Uncle Johnny.

Gyp was a veritable whirlwind of fury, her eyes were blazing, her cheeks
glowed red under her dusky skin, every tangled black hair on her head
bristled. She confronted Jerry accusingly.

"So _here's_ where you are!" Her words rang shrilly. "Here--fooling
'round with Isobel and you let the South High beat us by two points! You
_know_ you were the only girl we had who could beat Nina Sharpe in the
breast stroke. They put in Mary Reed and she was like a _rock_. And you
swam thirty-eight strokes under water the other day. I saw you--I
counted. And--and the South High girl only got up to _twenty_! _That's_
all you cared."

Jerry turned, a little frightened. She had hated missing the swimming
meet--contests were such new things in her life that they held a
wonderful fascination for her--but she had not dreamed that, through her
failure to appear, Lincoln might be beaten! She faced Gyp very humbly.

"Isobel was alone----"

Gyp turned on her sister.

"You're the very selfishest girl that ever lived, Isobel Westley, and
you're getting worse and worse. You never think of anyone in this whole
world but yourself! You never would have hurt your knee so badly only
you wanted to save your precious old dress, and you wouldn't give in and
let Peggy Lee take your part! Maybe you _are_ lonely and get tired lying
here and everyone's sorry 'bout that, but that's not any reason for your
keeping Jerry here when we needed her so badly--and she missed all the
fun, too!"

Isobel drew herself back into her pillows. She was no match for her
indignant sister. And she was aghast at the enormity of her selfish
thoughtlessness.

"I didn't know--honestly, Gyp. I thought the match was on Thursday----"

"It was. _This_ is Thursday," scornfully.

"Oh, it's _Wednesday_. Isn't it Wednesday? Mrs. Hicks said cook was out
and----"

"As if the calendar ran by the cook! Cook's sister's niece's sister was
married to-day and she changed her day out. If you'd think of someone
else----"

Jerry took command of the situation.

"It's my fault, Gyp. I could have told Isobel but--I didn't. I sort of
realized how I'd feel if I had to lie there in bed day after day when
everyone else was having such a good time and--well, the swimming match
didn't seem half as important as making Isobel happy an