CHAPTER XIV--The Story of the Two Dogs
That night Sally and Daphne held a council of war in their room. Itbegan by Sally saying: "I want to talk to you, Taffy, about somethingimportant." To which Daphne replied, "Very well, go ahead, but rememberto ask me what I have to tell you when you finish!"
"All right, mine's about Jan." Sally made herself comfortable in the bigchair and Daphne curled up on the window seat. "On the way back fromtarget practice today, she informed me that she would not be on theteam, even if she got the chance, because Phyl might be hurt."
Instead of looking angry or concerned, as Sally expected, Daphne laughedheartily.
"I don't think it's funny, she really meant it," Sally protested.
Daphne stopped laughing. "It is funny though, listen. This afternoon,after we had come up from the Senior's Retreat, Phyl told me the samething."
"But I don't understand."
"About Jan, of course."
"You mean she said she would be hurt if Jan did accept for the team?"
"Oh, no, you ought to know Phyl better than that. She said she wouldn'taccept for the Dramatic Club unless Jan was asked, too. There now, whatdo you think of that?"
Sally listened and after a mystified minute understood.
"Well, of all the ridiculous children!" she exclaimed laughing.
"Yes, but what are we going to do about it? They simply can't be allowedto spoil each other's chances like that," Daphne objected.
"Oh, we can fix that, now that we know about them both," Sallyexclaimed. "Look, we'll do it this very minute." She jumped up and wentto the writing table, found a half sheet of notepaper and began towrite.
Daphne looked over her shoulder.
"Will that do?" Sally inquired as she finished and carefully blotted thepage.
"Couldn't be better," Daphne laughed. "Thank goodness, you can alwaysdepend on the Twins to see the funny side of everything."
"I can't wait until morning to give it to them," Sally announced. Shewas half undressed but she slipped into a kimono and tip-toed into thehall. She poked the letter under the Twins's door and hurried back tothe waiting Daphne.
"Wish I could see their faces when they read it," she said.
Janet saw the note first.
"What is that?" she demanded, drawing Phyllis's attention to it.
"Looks like a letter," Phyllis replied smiling at Janet's apparentconcern. "Anyway, I don't think it's a bomb, so it might be safe to pickit up."
"You never can tell." Janet stood looking down at the white envelope."It may be a joke, and then again it may be a communication from one ofthe numerous ghosts that haunt Hilltop. You'd better pick it up, Phyl."
Phyllis leaned down and looked at the letter. "Sally's writing, so itcan't be dangerous," she said as she picked it up and opened it.
"Oh, it's for both of us. It says: 'Read this aloud' in large letters.Listen--
"Dear Twins: (she read)
Once upon a time there were two dogs. One was an Irish terrier and the other was a poodle, and they loved each other as only dogs can. The Irish terrier liked to run and jump, but the poodle liked to sit still and look very beautiful.
One day they were both very hungry, and they both went hunting but they did not go together.
The Irish terrier met a kind old gentleman who offered him a bone, but the silly dog wouldn't take it because he thought of his friend who was so hungry, too.
Now the poodle, on his walk, met a kind old lady, and she offered him a nice bone, too, but he thought of the poor hungry terrier and he refused to eat it.
So both of those nice dogs died of hunger, because they were so foolish, but of course it would never have happened if they had each known that the other was being offered a bone. This tale has a moral!"
Janet and Phyllis looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.
"I know what it means," Phyllis said at last. "At least I think I do."
"Of course, it means the Archery Team and the Dramatic Club," Janetanswered. "I told Sally today that if I am elected I didn't think I'daccept, because it would take me away from you so much."
Phyllis' arm encircled Janet's shoulder, and she rubbed her soft cheekagainst hers.
"I told Taffy exactly the same thing about the Dramatic Club," she said,"and of course you might know they would have a fit."
"I didn't know about the Dramatic Club until after I'd told Sally,"Janet admitted.
"And I didn't think about Archery when I talked to Taffy. I was justangry at the thought of Miss Slocum choosing me when you know twice asmuch," Phyllis protested.
"But I don't," Janet denied. "Imagine my acting in anything! Why, I'dperfectly hate it in the first place, and in the second I'd die offright."
Phyllis looked at her doubtfully. She still hated the idea of being insomething that had no place for Janet.
"Then I suppose--" she began.
"That we may as well each eat our own bones," Janet finished laughing,"as long as there are two of them; and after all if you should make theDramatic Club and I the Team it would help the old wing."
"Yes, of course, it would," Phyllis agreed. "But you're sure you don'tcare, Jan?"
"Of course, I don't, silly. I was only afraid you might. Let's answerSally's letter."
They thought for several minutes, and the final result seemed to pleasethem, for Janet stole softly across the hall, slipped the note underSally's and Daphne's door, and knocked ever so lightly, before shehurried back.
Sally was almost asleep, but Daphne heard the knock. She jumped up,switched on the lights, and woke Sally.
"The Twins's reply," she announced as she opened the note.
"Read it quick," Sally said sleepily.
"The Story of the Two Dogs, continued (she read).
And so the two little dogs went home to die. But just as they were about to draw their last breath, the nice old gentleman met the nice old lady, and they told each other about the dogs they had met on their walk, and about how foolish they had been.
'But Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot, this can't go on,' said the old gentleman.
'It would be silly to let it, wouldn't it?' drawled the nice old lady.
'We will go and tell them how foolish they are,' they said together.
So they went, and the two dogs were very glad to see them, and when they learned that there was two bones, they jumped up and barked, and they each promised to eat one apiece, and never again to be so silly; because they realized that if they ate enough bones they would grow strong, and perhaps some day they would be a credit to the wing, it was a very old wing, of the dog kennel where they lived."
"The satisfying thing about the Twins is that they always do what'sexpected of them," Daphne commented as she folded the note up. "Thebeginning of the Two Dogs was brilliant enough but the end--"
"The end is a masterpiece," Sally replied, now wide awake.
"Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot marked you as the old gentleman."
"Well, how about 'drawled the nice old lady'?"
"Oh, it was a masterpiece all right, and I loved the touch about thewing." Daphne went back to her own bed.
"That, my child, is the first real stirring of the spirit ofHilltop--loyalty. Oh, for the day when we are Seniors!" Sally yawned andstretched her white arms high above her head. "Think of it, Taffy,Seniors, our four!" she added drowsily, but this time Daphne was asleep.