all the time, and now you've done it, so, of
course, you're satisfied."

Peggy's impulse to laughter had passed. She turned rather pale, and sat
silent, not deigning to reply to such a charge, while Claire rushed on
recklessly. "Of course, after this, nothing would induce me to stay in
this house another night."

"I should hope not," remarked Priscilla with deadly coldness. She might
have forgiven Claire's attack on herself, but such treatment of Peggy
was not to be overlooked. The eyes of the two girls met like clashing
swords.

But in spite of Claire's declaration that nothing would induce her to
spend another night at Dolittle Cottage, when it was ascertained that
the first train on which she could take her departure left at ten
o'clock next morning, she did not seek the hospitality of Mrs. Snooks'
roof, nor even suggest sleeping on the lawn. After her first paroxysm of
anger was over, she became abnormally and painfully polite, begged
everybody's pardon for nothing at all, and proffered extravagant thanks
for the simplest service. She declined to come down to supper on the
pretext that she was too busy packing. And when Peggy carried up a
well-laden tray, Claire received her with courteous protests.

"Oh, dear me! You shouldn't have done that. I had no idea of your taking
any trouble on my account. I'm not at all hungry, you know." Claire
would have given much for sufficient strength of will to refuse to taste
another morsel of food in Dolittle Cottage, but being angry is,
unluckily, no safeguard against being hungry.

As a matter of fact, the voice of Claire's appetite was too insistent to
allow her to give herself the satisfaction of haughtily declining to
profit by Peggy's thoughtfulness. "Just set the tray down anywhere," she
continued, packing ostentatiously, "and if I get time and feel like it,
I'll eat a mouthful." And Peggy departed, relieved by her sincere
conviction that no one in the cottage would go to bed without a
satisfactory evening meal.

As Claire was to leave at ten, and Elaine arrived at eleven, it was but
natural that the girls who were to meet the new arrival should accompany
the departing guest on the four-mile drive to the station. Indeed, if
they depended on the stage, it was necessary that they should go
together, as this conveyance made but one trip a day in each direction.
Peggy did not wish to delegate to any of the other girls the
responsibility of meeting Elaine, whom she regar