"Yes, it's just that," said Mrs. Fisher, hurriedly; "it's about the birthday--I must speak quickly--I've just found out,--" she glanced up and down the corridor as if fully expecting to see Polly dash around a corner,--"that Adela Gray's birthday is to-morrow--"
"The dickens! You don't say so!" exploded Mr. King. "Well, now, I call that very clever on your part to have found it out. Very clever indeed, Mrs. Fisher," he repeated, beaming at her. "And just in time, for it would have been a dreadful thing, indeed, to have had that poor little girl left out, and her birthday too! Dear me!"
"It would, indeed," said Mrs. Fisher, heartily, with a shiver at the mere thought.
"And we might as well have had no celebration in such a case, for Polly wouldn't have enjoyed a single bit of it--not an atom!" declared old Mr. King, bringing his walking stick heavily down on the floor.
"What is it--oh, Grandpapa, what is it?" and Polly came hurrying along the corridor, and Jasper after her.
"Here she comes!" exclaimed Grandpapa, in a fright. "Glad you told me--Hush--O dear me--I'll take care of the gifts."
"And I'm to do the rest--just the same--Doctor Fisher and I. Remember!" It was all Mrs. Fisher had time to utter. Even then, Polly caught the last words in the flurry.
"Oh, what is it, Mamsie--Is anything the matter with Papa-Doctor?" And her brown eyes filled with alarm at her mother's unusual manner.
"Polly," Mrs. Fisher looked into the brown eyes with a steady glance, and all the hurry was gone out of her voice, "your father is all right. And now, run away, you and Jasper." She looked over Polly's shoulder at him as she spoke. "No, not another word, child." And away Mrs. Fisher hurried, while old Mr. King slipped off in the opposite direction.
"How funnily they act," said Polly, looking first after one and then another, with a puzzled face. "What can it be, Jasper?"
"Oh, well, I suppose they are in a hurry," said Jasper, as carelessly as he could. "Never mind, Polly, everything is all right. Oh, I say, let's fix our stamp books."
"But I was going to ask Grandpapa to go out with us, and now he's gone by himself," and Polly's face grew more puzzled than ever.
"Polly," said Jasper, desperately, "I really think we ought to fix our stamp books. I really do," and he took her hand. "My stamps are all in heaps in the envelopes, and in a mess generally. Come, let's begin now--do." And he led her back down the corridor.