Dorothy Daintys Gay Times | Page 6

didn't mean to be disagreeable," said Flossie
Barnet.
She disliked Arabella, but she never could bear to hear any one spoken
of unkindly.
"Now, Flossie Barnet, you might just know that Arabella likes to be
unpleasant," said Jeanette, and Flossie could not deny it.
Dorothy and Nancy had heard what they were saying, and they thought
that it was not at all nice of the girls to speak as if Aunt Charlotte had
allowed Arabella to be rude.
"Perhaps Aunt Charlotte thought she wouldn't correct her the very first
day," Nancy said, and Nina and Mollie wished that what they had said
had not been heard.
Little Reginald seemed, for once, to have nothing to say.
He was skipping along between his cousin Katie Dean and Jeanette
Earl, and tightly grasping their hands.
There had been a light shower early in the morning, and here and there
a little puddle reflected the blue sky and floating clouds. Reginald saw
one just ahead, and laughed softly. Katie and Jeanette were talking with
Dorothy, and paying little heed to the small boy who walked between
them.
"I thought your cousin was coming to school this morning," said
Dorothy.
"She's coming the first of next week," said Jeanette.

"And what is her name?" asked Katie.
They were close to a fine large puddle now, and Reginald with a hop
landed both feet in the middle of it.
"Why, Reginald Merton Dean! You naughty boy!" said Katie; "just
look at my new shoes! See the dirty water you've splashed on Jeanette's
dress!"
"And look at the puddle," exclaimed Reginald, "I didn't spoil the
puddle; it looks just same's it did before I jumped in it."
Katie forgot that her question had not been answered, but Jeanette
remembered it.
"You asked what my cousin's name is," said Jeanette; "her name is Lola
Blessington."
"Is she a peacemaker?" asked Reginald, who still remembered the
morning's verse. "Well,--no, I mean not exactly," said Nina, who
hastened to reply before Jeanette could do so.
"What's she like?" asked Reginald.
"Oh, you'll know when you see her," said Jeanette.
"And we shall see her next week," Katie said.
The sunny days slipped by, and nothing unusual happened at the little
school.
In that first week the other pupils learned that there was but one way to
get on peaceably with Arabella.
At first they followed Dorothy's example, and urged Arabella to join
them in their games, but games which they chose never pleased her,
and when Friday came, Reginald spoke his mind. They were walking
home from school, and Arabella, as usual, had turned from her
playmates, preferring to go home alone.

Reginald looked after her frowning.
"She's just an old fussbudget!" he said.
"Oh, hush!" said Katie, "don't you know that we all promised Dorothy
we'd be kind to Arabella?"
"Well, I didn't say it to her," said Reginald, "but I'd like to."
"Now, Reginald," said Katie, "you know mamma said that you were
always to be a gentleman, and that you must be 'specially polite and
gentle if you were to be in a class of girls."
"Well, what did I do?" he asked with wide open eyes. "I haven't
touched Arabella; if she'd been a boy I would have shaken her this
morning, when she sneered and called me a pretty boy. Boys aren't ever
pretty; only girls are pretty, and any boy would hate Arabella for saying
it."
They tried not to laugh, but the handsome little fellow was so angry,
and all because Arabella had called him pretty. Reginald, who never
could be angry long, joined in the general laugh which could not be
controlled.
Early Monday morning Dorothy and Nancy were skipping along the
avenue on their way to school.
Every day of the first week had been sunny, and here was Monday with
the bright blue sky overhead, and the little sunbeams dancing on the
road.
"We had every lesson perfect last week," said Dorothy, "and I mean to
get 'perfect' this week, too."
"So do I," said Nancy, "and I can, if Arabella doesn't make me do half
her examples!"
"I don't think she ought to," Dorothy said.

"She doesn't really ask me to," said Nancy, "but it's almost the same.
She says she can't do them, and says she could if some one was kind
enough to just show her how. Then I can't seem to be unkind, and the
minute I say I'll help her, she pushes her slate and pencil towards me.
'You can do 'em easier than I can,' she says, and instead of helping her,
I do them all."
"Does Aunt Charlotte like to have you?" asked Dorothy.
"I don't know; I haven't told her about it yet. I don't want to be a
telltale," Nancy said.
"Of course