our dress if you go to the village," said
Peggy's mother. "You can put on one of your blue frocks if you like."

So a few minutes later Peggy in her blue frock went out into the spring
sunshine, a very happy little girl, with a small covered basket in her
hand, for her mother had told her she might get half a dozen lemons and
some sugar and a box of fancy crackers, so they could have some lemonade
and crackers in the afternoon.

"Be sure you don't forget the yeast-cake," her mother said, "and don't
stop to talk to any strange children, and don't call on any of the
neighbors. Don't run, it is too hot, but don't waste any time on the
road, for I want to get my bread started as soon as I can."

Peggy danced along the road in spite of the heat, for it was a happy
thing to be alive. She had not gone far when she saw a boy coming out of
a crossroad. It was Christopher Carter, and he too had a covered basket
in his hand.

"Hullo!" said Peggy.

"Hullo!" said Christopher. He joined her as he spoke.

"What have you got in your basket?" Peggy asked with interest.

"Butter and eggs from the Miller farm. What have you got in yours?"

"Nothing. Mother's sent me to the grocery store to get some things."

"How's the cat?" he asked.

"She's all right, only we have to keep her shut up, for if we let her
out she'd go straight to your house. I can't think why she likes you
better than us."

"She gets lots of scraps of fish and meat, because we are such a big
family; and then I suppose she likes her own old home, just as a person
would."

"I know, but Alice is so crazy about her: Alice is my sister," she
explained.

"My sister is just as crazy about her."

"So you've got a sister? I thought you had, and I guessed her name was
Matilda Ann."

"Matilda Ann! What an awful name! What made you think her name was
Matilda Ann?"

"I don't know. It just came into my head that her name was Matilda Ann."

"Well, it isn't."

"Alice guessed it was Fanny," Peggy hastened to add, hoping that the
credit of the family might be restored.

"It isn't Fanny either. You could guess and guess and you'd never guess
it. It's such an unusual name."

Peggy was full of interest. She guessed several uncommon names, but they
were all of them wrong.

"What letter does it begin with?" she asked finally.

"It begins with a D."

"Dorothy?"

"No, that's a very common name. I know lots of Dorothys."

"Doris?"

"That isn't uncommon, either. I