"I guess so," said Peggy, who was always ready to go anywhere; "I'll ask mother."

"Don't let's go out, it is so wet," said Alice, who was interested in the story.

"I'm going if mother'll let me," said Peggy.

Mrs. Owen had no objection, and, as Alice did not like to be left behind, she and Peggy put on their rubbers and raincoats.

Alice gave Lady Janet a parting hug. "You darling, I am going to see your mother," she said; "shall I give her your love? Peggy, she is licking my hand," said Alice.

The two children went out into the chilly October rain. Alice shivered, but Peggy was delighted to be out. She walked into every puddle she came to.

"You'll get your feet wet," said Alice.

"I'm just trying to see if it will go over my rubbers," said Peggy. "Oh, it did that time--I didn't think it would."

"You've got your feet very wet," said Alice.

"I know I have, but I can dry my shoes and stockings at Diana's."

Diana was sitting before the fire in her room with a book. She jumped up and flung her arms about Alice, who was nearer her, and then about Peggy.

"Peggy has got her feet wet," said Alice anxiously. "She'll have to put on some of your stockings while hers are drying."

"I can't get into Diana's stockings," Peggy said, as she looked down at her feet. "I'll just sit in my bare feet until my shoes and stockings are dry."

"Uncle Joe and the boys may come in. I'll get you some of mother's,"

said Diana.

So Peggy was dressed in a pair of black silk stockings that were much too large for her, and a pair of bedroom slippers that were so big that she was afraid to walk for fear they would fall off. She liked the slippers very much, however, for they were such a pretty shade of blue, and they had black fur all around the edge.

It was early in the afternoon, so the children settled down for a long play. They were beginning to wish they could think of something else to do when Uncle Joe came in.

"How cozy you look," said he. "Can you give a poor working-man a seat by the fire?"

Peggy who was nearest the fire, sprang up, forgetting all about her slippers.

"I think I see a bird in borrowed plumage," said Uncle Joe. "Did you get your feet wet?"

"I walked into a mud-puddle on purpose, for the fun of it," said Peggy.

"I wanted to see if it would go over my rubbers. I didn't think it would, but it did."

"Oh, Uncle Joe, can't we play the geography game?" said Diana. "Peggy has never played it."

"I don't like geography so very much," said Alice.

"It's just a game," said Diana. "We have to see who can say the forty-eight States quickest. We say them like the alphabet, those beginning with A first, and the one who gets the A's done first looks them up on the map, to see where they are. It's lots of fun."

"Diana likes it because she always beats Tom and Christopher," said her uncle.

"Let's begin," said Diana, "one, two, three."

But neither Peggy nor Alice could think of a single State beginning with A.

"There are three," said Diana. "You can look them up on the map and find them." She brought out an atlas and turned to a map of the United States.

Alice and Peggy pored over the map eagerly.

"I've found one," said Peggy, "it's Arizona."

"Here is Alabama," said Alice.

"Here, is another one, Arkansas," said Peggy. "Now for the B's."

"There aren't any B's," said Diana.

Tom and Christopher came in just then, and Peggy and Alice listened as the others played the game. Once in a while Peggy thought of a State beginning with the right letter, but, as a rule, she thought of the wrong States. Ma.s.sachusetts would pop into her head when Uncle Joe was asking for I's, and South Carolina when he wanted the K's. It was quite discouraging, for the other children had played the game so much.

"This is only the first part of the game," said Diana. "Uncle Joe has had us each trace a map of the United States, and then we play we have to live in one of the States that begins with the same letter our first name begins with; then we put the tracing over white cardboard and cut out our State, and we can paint it any color we like. We are going to put in the rivers and big towns by and by. I can't live in any State but Delaware," she said regretfully.

"There is only Pennsylvania for me to live in," said Peggy.

"Alice can live in Arizona or Alabama or Arkansas," said Christopher.

"I don't want to live in any of them," said Alice gently, with her sweetest smile. "I want to live just where I do live."

"But New Hampshire doesn't begin with an A," said Peggy.

"I know it doesn't, but I don't want to live in any other State."

"But it's only a game," said Peggy. "Don't you want to play you live in nice Alabama where they have such warm winters, and there are such lots of cunning little black children?"

"No, I don't. I want to cut out a map of New Hampshire and paint it pink."

"But, Alice, you've got to play the game," said Peggy.

"I'm going to play my own kind of game and cut out a map of New Hampshire and paint it pink."

"If she doesn't care to live in Alabama or Arizona or Arkansas, we might let her live in a State beginning with the first letter of her last name," said Uncle Joe. "How do you feel about living in Ohio or Oklahoma or Oregon?"

"I don't want to live in any of those States. I want to live in New Hampshire and paint it pink."

"But you can't," Peggy insisted. "You've got to play the game."

Alice looked up beseechingly at Uncle Joe. She smiled and showed her dimples. "Dear Uncle Joe," she said sweetly, "can't you fix the game some way so I can live in New Hampshire and paint it pink?"

Uncle Joe looked thoughtful. A bright idea occurred to him. "Alice, what word do the three last letters of your last name spell if you begin at the end and spell backwards?"

"New," said Peggy, before Alice could speak.