CHAPTER IV

PEGGY GOES FOR A YEAST-CAKE

"Dear me," said Mrs. Owen, one hot morning, a few days later, as she started to make bread, "this yeast-cake isn't fresh. What a shame!

Peggy, you'll have to go down to the village and get me another."

Peggy was delighted at the chance for an errand. She never minded the heat, and she always liked to be out of doors better than in. It was Sat.u.r.day morning so there was no school. This heat in April was very trying to Mrs. Owen and Alice.

"You'll have to change your 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.

"b.u.t.ter 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 sc.r.a.ps 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 f.a.n.n.y," Peggy hastened to add, hoping that the credit of the family might be restored.

"It isn't f.a.n.n.y 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 know two Dorises."

"Dora?"

"That isn't uncommon, either. I know some Doras."

Peggy was amazed at the size of the acquaintance of this boy who had come from the city, and she was very envious. She wished she knew all those Dorothys and Dorises and Doras. She wanted to hear all about each one of them. But he did not want to take the trouble to tell her about them.

"Guess again," he said.

"I can't think of any more girls' names beginning with a D, except Dorcas, in the Bible."

"It isn't Dorcas."

"Delia?"

"No."

"You'll have to tell me; I can't think of another thing."

"Her name is Diana."

"Diana! What a pretty name! Is she pretty?"

"She's all right," the boy said heartily; "only she isn't very strong; and she has to stay in bed a lot when she is sick, and the cat amused her. She came and would get on the bed and would curl down by her."

"She would? Mother would never let her go into our bedrooms."

Peggy was beginning to see why Lady Jane liked to live with the Carters.

But she had a pang of jealousy when she thought of that adorable gray striped p.u.s.s.y, with her soft fur and her greenish eyes, curling down contentedly and giving her cheerful purr while she was stroked by another little girl.

"Is she the only sister you've got?" Peggy asked.

"Yes."

"Have you only one brother?"

"That's all. He's older than me. He's some brother," he added proudly.