"We were wild to know if our private school is _truly_ to commence next week. Mamma said it would if enough pupils were ready to join it," said Mollie, "and we knew Katie Dean's cousin was a new one, and won't it be funny to have one boy in the class?"
"Oh, but he is just a _little_ boy," said Nancy.
"And he must begin to go to school this year, and he says he likes girls ever so much better than boys, so he asked if he might go to our school," Dorothy said.
"He _always_ says he likes girls best," said Flossie; "isn't he a queer little fellow?" "I don't know," Mollie said, so drolly that they all laughed.
"And there is a new pupil, who has just come here to live, and she is _very_ nice, Jeanette Earl says," and as she spoke Dorothy looked up at her friends, a soft pleading in her blue eyes.
She intended to give a kindly welcome to the new pupil, and she hoped that the others would be friendly.
"How does Jeanette know?" asked Mollie, bluntly.
"Oh, Jeanette ought to know," said Nancy, "for the new little girl is her cousin, I mean her _third_ cousin."
"Well, Nina is Jeanette's sister," said Mollie, "so what does _she_ say?"
"She didn't say anything," said Nancy, "she just _looked_."
"Arabella Corryville is to be in our class," said Flossie, "and when I told Uncle Harry he laughed, and asked me if her Aunt Matilda was coming to school with her."
Of course they laughed, and it was Mollie who first spoke.
"Your Uncle Harry is always joking," she said, "and sometimes I can't tell whether he is in earnest, or only saying things just for fun."
"Well, I guess you'll laugh when I tell you what he said next! He said that although he had graduated from college, and now was in business, he would urge Aunt Charlotte to let him attend a _few_ sessions of our school, if Arabella's Aunt Matilda was to be there. He said it would be a great pleasure which he really could not miss." How they laughed at the idea of Flossie's handsome young uncle in the little private school, while Arabella's prim little aunt was also a pupil.
"I asked him what he meant," said Flossie, who looked completely puzzled, "and he said that sometimes a man's wits needed sharpening, and that Aunt Matilda would be a regular file. Papa laughed, but mamma said: 'Harry, Harry, you really mustn't,' and he ran up to the music-room whistling 'O dear, what can the matter be?' I can't help laughing even when I don't understand his teasing jokes, he says things in such a funny way, while his eyes just dance."