"You don't come very often, so we are rather over-powered when you do honor us," she said, demurely.
"Well, you, know we fellows are so busy, we have n't much time to enjoy ourselves," answered Tom.
"Ahem!" said Will, loudly.
"Take a troche," said Tom.
Then they both burst out laughing, and Polly, fully understanding the joke, joined them, saying, "Here are some peanuts, Tom; do enjoy yourself while you can.""Now I call that a delicate compliment!" And Tom, who had not lost his early relish for this sort of refreshment, though he seldom indulged his passion nowadays, because peanuts are considered vulgar, fell to cracking and munching with great satisfaction.
"Do you remember the first visit I made at your house, how you gave me peanuts, coming from the depot, and frightened me out of my wits, pretending the coachman was tipsy?" asked Polly.
"Of course I do, and how we coasted one day," answered Tom, laughing.
"Yes, and the velocipede; you 've got the scar of that yet, I see.""I remember how you stood by me while it was sewed up; that was very plucky, Polly.""I was dreadfully afraid, but I remember I wanted to seem very brave, because you 'd called me a coward.""Did I? Ought to have been ashamed of myself. I used to rough you shamefully, Polly, and you were so good-natured, you let me do it.""Could n't help myself," laughed Polly. "I did use to think you were an awful boy, but seems to me I rather liked it.""She had so much of it at home, she got used to it," put in Will, pulling the little curl behind Polly's ear.
"You boys never teased me as Tom did, that 's the reason it amused me, I suppose; novelty hath charms, you know.""Grandma used to lecture Tom for plaguing you, Polly, and he used to say he 'd be a tip-top boy, but he was n't," observed Maud, with a venerable air.
"Dear old grandma; she did her best, but I 'm a bad lot," said Tom, with a shake of the head and a sober face.
"It always seems as if she must be up in her rooms, and I can't get used to finding them empty," added Polly, softly.
"Father would n't have anything moved, and Tom sits up there sometimes;it makes him feel good, he says," said Maud, who had a talent for betraying trifles which people preferred should not be mentioned in public.
"You 'd better hurry up your apple, for if it is n't done pretty soon, you 'll have to leave it, Pug," said Tom, looking annoyed.
"How is Fan?" asked Polly, with tact.
"Well, Fan is rather under the weather; says she 's dyspeptic, which means cross.""She is cross, but she 's sick too, for I found her crying one day, and she said nobody cared about her, and she might as well be dead," added Maud, having turned her apple with tender care.
"We must try to cheer her up, among us. If I was n't so busy I 'd like to devote myself to her, she has done so much for me," said Polly, gratefully.
"I wish you could. I can't understand her, for she acts like a weathercock, and I never know how I 'm going to find her. I hate to have her mope so, but, upon my life, I don't know what to do," said Tom; but as he uttered the words, something was suggested by the sight before him. Chairs were few, and Polly had taken half of Will's when they drew round the fire.
Now she was leaning against him, in a cosy, confiding way, delightful to behold, while Will's strong arm went round her with a protecting air, which said, as plainly as any words, that this big brother and small sister knew how to love and help one another. It was a pleasant little picture, all the pleasanter for its unconsciousness, and Tom found it both suggestive and agreeable.
"Poor old Fan, she don't get much petting; maybe that 's what she wants.
I 'll try it and see, for she stands by me like a trump. If she was a rosy, cosy little woman, like Polly, it would come easier, though," thought Tom, as he meditatively ate his last nut, feeling that fraternal affection could not be very difficult of demonstration, to brothers blessed with pretty, good-tempered sisters.
"I told Tom about the bad fellow who blew up the professor, and he said he knew him, slightly; and I was so relieved, because I had a kind of a feeling that it was Tom himself, you and Will laughed so about it."Maud had a queer way of going on with her own thoughts, and suddenly coming out with whatever lay uppermost, regardless of time, place, or company.
As this remark fell from her, there was a general smile, and Polly said, with mock solemnity,­"It was a sad thing, and I 've no doubt that misguided young man is very sorry for it now.""He looked perfectly bowed down with remorse last time I saw him," said Will, regarding Tom with eyes full of fun, for Will was a boy as well as a bookworm, and relished a joke as well as scatter-brained Tom.
"He always is remorseful after a scrape, I 've understood, for he is n't a very bad fellow, only his spirits are one too many for him, and he is n't as fond of his book as another fellow I know.""I 'm afraid he 'll he expelled if he don't mind," said Polly, warningly.
"Should n't wonder if he was, he 's such an unlucky dog," answered Tom, rather soberly.
