"Horrid," said Janet without a moment's hesitation.

Sally smiled. "That's how little you know of Hilltop," she said.

"Oh, who cares what they're like!" Phyllis laughed. "They're in the new wing and we're in the old. All that matters is that Daphne's here, and we four are together again."

Daphne gave a queer little laugh.

"It's pretty wonderful," she admitted, "to find you all just the same. I was afraid that perhaps Sally had found a new pal, and that perhaps you two have discovered some other girls. It rather worried me."

The rest laughed, and Janet said:

"Taffy, my darling, you were growing an imagination. You kill it before it becomes dangerous."

s.n.a.t.c.hes of a song came to them from the hall and Sally jumped up and ran to the door.

"Come in, you three," she called.

Prue, Ann and Gladys entered.

"We thought we would let you have the first few minutes in peace," Prue began, but Ann went straight to Daphne and held out her hand.

"You're the very princess come to life," she said. "And we're awfully glad to welcome you at Hilltop."

"We thought Janet was making you up," Gladys added, "but we see she wasn't." She smiled her roguish smile at Daphne.

"Indeed, we are glad to welcome you to Hilltop," Prue held out her hand, "and specially glad for the old wing."

"We've been looking over the new twins and I can't say that they are very exciting. All they did was to sc.r.a.p," Ann remarked.

"Oh, dear!" Phyllis sighed. "I suppose now they'll be the new twins, and we'll be the old twins."

Gladys looked at her and shook her head very slowly.

"They will not," she said emphatically. "For I have already named them the Red Twins, and Red Twins they shall be," she ended triumphantly.

She was right. The girls had always followed her lead, and they followed it faithfully in the naming of the Red Twins, and Janet and Phyllis, to the old wing's secret satisfaction, remained always The Twins.

CHAPTER X-The Parrot Is Consulted

"Nice poll, pretty poll!" Gladys stood by Sally's window, where the girls had decided that Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot lived in a magic cage.

"Polly want a cracker?" she continued coaxingly.

"What are you flattering my Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot for?" Sally demanded with dignity.

"I want to find out if I'm going to make the Archery Contest tomorrow,"

Gladys replied, "and I don't know anybody but Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot that can tell me."

"You might ask her about the rest of us," Prue suggested, and Gladys turned back to the window.

"How about Prue, Polly?" she inquired seriously.

"... Oh, is that so?"

"... Well, perhaps you're right."

"... Very well, I'll tell her."

She turned back to the laughing group of girls.

"Aunt Jane's Poll-parrot says that Prue couldn't hit the side of a barn door, and he advises her to serve lemonade on the side lines."

Prue sniffed contemptuously.

"Just to show you that that bird is a fraud, I'll make a bull's-eye tomorrow."

A shout greeted her threat. Prue had never even hit the target, but every year she tried again, for the hope that she might some day make the archery team for the old wing burned bright in her heart.

"What's the gossip about the new wing?" Ann inquired. "It would be simply terrible if they got the cup this year."

Gladys frowned and shook her fist at imaginary Polly.

"That's the trouble with the new wing," she said. "They're so beastly efficient, and they really have good material to work with."

"Meaning that we haven't?" Ann inquired indignantly.

"No, but they have six in the old team back this year, and we have only three. Gwen's really upset about it. Of course, as captain of sports, she has to be neutral, but everybody knows she wants the old wing to get it."

"I heard the Red Twins bragging awfully," Daphne said. She had been at Hilltop for a week now and had found her place already. She was so thoroughly likeable that the girls gave her their instant affection.

"The twins and Taffy are just like old girls," was a constant phrase.

"Were there ever two girls as b.u.mptious as those two?" Gladys demanded.

Ann looked up with a twinkle in her eye.

"I know of only one other," she replied. "She was an impudent little wretch, named Gladys Manners."

"Hum, I knew you were going to say that," Gladys replied, her temper not one bit ruffled. "And it's almost true. I was an awful smarty, but then I was only ten years old."

"And it didn't take you long to reform, I'll say that for you," Ann admitted.

"It couldn't have, because b.u.t.ter wouldn't melt in her mouth my first year," Prue laughed at a sudden memory now two years old. "If I even raised my voice above a whisper, the little imp would remind me that I was a new girl, and here I was a whole year older than she was."

"Mercy, we must be careful, Jan," Phyllis said, and Janet nodded.