for a moment both anna and luretta looked at melvina a little doubtfully, for they could but remember and be ashamed of their part in the foolish game they had tried to play with her so short a time ago. but melvina was smiling and friendly, and evidently had cherished no ill-feeling toward them. by the time she had replied to mrs. foster’s friendly inquiries in regard to her mother, anna and luretta were quite at their ease; and luretta said to herself that she did not wonder anna wanted to be like melvina. luretta even began to wonder if it would not be well for her to learn to speak as softly as did melvina lyon; it certainly had a pleasant sound, she thought admiringly.

“i must return home,” said mrs. foster, “but melvina’s father will expect her to wait here for him; so, luretta, you and anna may stay with her until he comes. here is a clean log where91 you can sit comfortably, and do not go far from this spot.”

the little girls promised, and mrs. foster started for home. hardly had she turned her back when melvina clasped anna by the hand, and exclaimed: “now you can tell me more about the woods, and the little animals who live in hollow logs or burrow under rocks, and about the different birds and their nests! oh, begin quickly, for my father may soon return,” and she drew anna toward the big log that lay near the path.

“tell her about our rabbits, danna,” suggested luretta. “my brother paul brought me two little gray rabbits from the forest,” she explained; and melvina listened eagerly to the description of trit and trot, and of their cunning ways and bright eyes, and was told that they had already lost their fear of luretta and anna.

“i wish i could see them. i have never seen any little animals except kittens,” said melvina. it seemed to melvina that anna and luretta were very fortunate children. they could run about in old clothes, play on the shore and among the piles of lumber, and they knew many strange and interesting things about the creatures of the92 forest which she had never before heard. the long lessons that she had to learn each morning, the stint of neat stitches that she had to set each day, and the ceremonious visits now and then, when she always had to take her knitting, and was cautioned by her anxious mother to “remember that she was a minister’s daughter, and behave properly, and set a good example”—all these things flitted through melvina’s thoughts as tiresome tasks that she would like to escape, and be free as anna seemed to be.

“mayn’t i bring the rabbits down here for melvina to see?” asked anna. “the box would not be very heavy.”

but luretta had objections to this plan. her brother had told her not to move the box from the sunny corner near the shed; and, beside this, she was sure it was too heavy for anna to lift. “if you should let it fall they might get out and run away,” she concluded. then, noticing anna’s look of disappointment, she added: “i know what you may do, danna. you and melvina may go up and see the rabbits, and i will wait here for parson lyon and tell him where melvina is, and that we will see her safely home; and then i will hurry after you.”93

“oh! yes, indeed; that is a splendid plan,” said melvina eagerly, jumping up from the log. “let us go now, anna. and is not luretta kind to think of it?”

anna agreed rather soberly. mrs. foster had told them to remain near the log, she remembered, but if melvina saw no harm in luretta’s plan she was sure it must be right; so taking melvina’s hand they started off.

“let’s run, anna,” urged melvina; for anna was walking sedately, in the manner in which she had so often seen melvina come down the path, and she was a little surprised that her companion had not at once noticed it. but anna was always ready to run, and replied quickly: “let’s race, and see who can get to the blacksmith shop first.”

away went the two little girls, melvina’s long braids dancing about, and her starched skirts blown back as she raced along; and, greatly to anna’s surprise, melvina passed her and was first at the shop.

“i beat! i beat!” exclaimed melvina, her dark eyes shining and her face flushed with the unwonted exercise.

“you do everything best,” anna declared94 generously, “but i did not know that you could run so fast.”

“neither did i,” melvina acknowledged laughingly. anna felt a little puzzled by this sudden change in melvina, which was far more noticeable than anna’s own effort to give up her boyish ways and become a quiet, sedate little girl. for ever since the few hours of freedom on the shore, on the day of the tempest, melvina had endeavored to be as much like anna as possible. she ran, instead of walking slowly, whenever she was out of her mother’s sight. she had even neglected her lessons to go out-of-doors and watch a family of young robins one morning, and had been immediately called in by her surprised mother. in fact, melvina had tried in every way to do things that she imagined anna liked to do. she had even besought her mother to cut off her hair; but, as she dared not give her reason for such a wish, mrs. lyon had reproved her sharply, saying that it was a great misfortune for a little girl not to have smoothly braided hair, or long curls. so while anna endeavored to cover her pretty curly hair, to behave sedately, and give up many of her outdoor games, in order to be like melvina, melvina was wishing that she95 could be exactly like anna; and as they stood looking at each other at the end of their race each little girl noticed a change in the other which she could not understand, and they started off toward luretta’s home at a more sober pace.

“here they are,” said anna, as they came to the corner of the shed and saw the rabbits looking out at them between the slats of the box.

melvina kneeled down close to the box and exclaimed admiringly as trit and trot scurried away to the farthest corner.

“i do wish i could touch one! would it not be fun to dress them up like dolls!” she said. “if they were mine i would dress them up in bonnets and skirts, and teach them to bow. oh, anna! can’t we take one out? one of them is yours, luretta said so; let us take out your rabbit, anna.”

“but we haven’t anything to dress it up in,” said anna, beginning to think that melvina was a good deal like other little girls after all.

“could we not take your rabbit over to my house, anna? my mother has gone to mrs. burnham’s to spend the day, and we could take trot up to my room and dress her up and play games. do, anna!” urged melvina.96

“it would be great sport indeed,” agreed anna eagerly; “we could call trot by some fine name, like queen elizabeth, and have your dolls for visitors.”

“yes, yes, we could! or play trot was a lion that we had captured in africa. where is the door to the box, anna?” and melvina’s dark eyes shone more brightly than ever as anna slid back the little door that paul had so carefully made, and, after several vain efforts, finally secured one of the rabbits and quickly wrapped it in the skirt of her dress.

“shut the door, melvina! quick! or the other will run out,” she said, but although melvina hastened to obey she was only just in time to catch the second rabbit in her hands; an instant later and it would have scampered away free.

“put your skirt around it. hurry, and let’s run. mrs. foster is coming,” whispered anna, and the two little girls ran swiftly behind the shed, holding the trembling frightened rabbits, and then across the fields toward mr. lyon’s house. not until they reached the back door of the parsonage did either of them remember luretta, and then it was anna who exclaimed:97

“but what will luretta think when she comes home and does not find us, and sees the empty box?”

“she won’t go home for a long time; we will be back and the rabbits safe in their box by that time,” declared melvina. “we will go up the back stairs, anna; and we need not be quiet, for london has gone fishing. we will have a fine time! oh, anna, i am so glad you stopped me that day when we went wading, for now we are friends,” she continued, leading the way up-stairs.

“but i was horrid, melvina,” anna said, recalling her efforts to make melvina appear silly and ignorant so that luretta would scorn her.

“no, indeed, you were not,” responded melvina. “when we played on the shore you made me laugh and run. i never played like that before.”

“well, i think you are real good,” said anna humbly, as she followed melvina into a pleasant sunny chamber. “most girls would have been angry when their fine clothes were spoiled; and you were punished too, and i was not;” and anna looked at melvina admiringly, thinking to98 herself that she would do anything that melvina could ask to make up to her for that undeserved punishment.

“you will have to hold both the rabbits while i get my dolls,” said melvina; and anna’s attention was fully occupied in keeping the two little creatures safe and quiet in the folds of her skirt, which she held together bag fashion, while melvina drew a large box from the closet and took out three fine dolls.

anna gazed at the dolls admiringly. each one wore a gown of blue silk, and little shirred bonnets to match. melvina explained that they, the dolls, all wanted to dress just alike.

“we will put these on trit and trot,” she said, drawing out two white skirts from her collection of doll clothes. “and see these little white bonnets!” and she held up two tiny round bonnets of white muslin; “these will be just the thing.”

the rabbits submitted to being dressed. both the girls were very gentle with them, and gradually the little creatures grew less frightened. neither anna nor melvina had ever had such delightful playthings before. the rabbits were queen elizabeth and lady washington, and the99 dolls came to bow low before them. the time passed very rapidly, and not until london was seen coming toward the house to prepare the noonday meal did the little girls give another thought to luretta. melvina, glancing from the window, saw london coming up the path with his basket of fish. she was holding lady washington, and for a second her clasp was less firm, and that was enough. with a leap the rabbit was through the open window, the white skirt fluttering about it. anna, starting up in surprise, let go queen elizabeth, who followed lady washington through the window so closely that it was small wonder that london dropped his basket of fish and ran back a few steps with a loud cry. after a few scrambling leaps the rabbits disappeared, and london, trembling with fright, for he believed that the strange leaping creatures dressed in white must be some sort of evil witches, picked up his basket, and shaking his head and muttering to himself, came slowly toward the house.

“and there comes my father, and luretta is with him,” exclaimed melvina. “what shall we do, anna? and what will luretta say when we tell her about the rabbits? come, we must be100 at the front door when they get here, or my father will fear i am lost.”

mr. lyon smiled as he saw his little girl standing in the doorway, and his troubled look vanished. but luretta looked flushed and angry. all the morning she had been sitting on the log waiting for mr. lyon, and when he came at last she had hurried home only to find that her mother had not seen either of the girls, and luretta had run after mr. lyon to tell him this, and accompanied him to the door.

“i will walk home with luretta,” anna said with unusual meekness. melvina watched them go, a little frightened at the end of the morning’s fun. she did not know what they could say to luretta to explain their mischief. at that moment london came into the front entry.

“i’se seen strange sights this mornin’, massa!” he said, rolling his eyes. “i’se seen white witches flyin’ out ob dis house.”

“london! do not talk of such wickedness,” said mr. lyon sharply. “even your little mistress is amused at such absurd talk,” for melvina, knowing what london had seen, was laughing heartily. but london, shaking his head solemnly, went back to the kitchen, sure that he101 had seen a strange and awful sight, and resolved to speak to mr. lyon again of the matter.

“well, danna weston! you can’t have one of my rabbits now, after treating me this way,” said luretta. “and i am not going to walk home with you, either,” and she ran swiftly ahead.

anna did not hurry after her, as luretta hoped and expected. she began to feel very unhappy. trit and trot were gone, and who could tell but the skirts and bonnets might not strangle them? then, suddenly, she remembered that rebecca was at home ill, and that she had entirely forgotten her, and the young checkerberry leaves she had intended picking for her sister. she put the thought that it was all melvina’s fault out of her mind. even if it were, had not she, anna, led melvina into a more serious trouble on the day of the tempest? she resolved that she would take all the blame of the lost rabbits, that melvina should not even be questioned about them if she could help it. but it was a very sober little girl who went up the path toward home.