"Lily Rosalie Violet May," said Joe, after her, softly. And everybody
giggled.
A pink color spread all over Sarah Jane's face and dimpled neck; tears
sprang to her eyes. She felt as if they were poking fun at something
sacred; her honest childish confidence was betrayed. "Give her back to
me, Joe West!" she cried.
But Joe only dandled it out of her reach, and then the bell rang. The
children trooped back into the school-room, and Joe quietly slipped the
doll into his pocket and marched gravely to his seat.
Every time when Sarah Jane gazed around at him he was studying his
geography with the most tireless industry. She could hardly wait for
school to be done; when it was, she tried to get to Joe, but he was too
quick for her. He had started with his long stride down the road before
she could get to the door. She called after him, but he appeared to have
suddenly grown deaf. The other girls condoled with her, all but the big
girl who had given the warning. "You'd ought to have listened to me,"
said she, severely, as she tied on her sun-bonnet in the entry. "I told
you how it would be, letting a boy have hold of it."
Sarah Jane was not much comforted. She crept forlornly along towards
home. Joe West's house was on the way. There was a field south of it. As
she came to this field she saw Joe out there with the bossy. This bossy,
which was tethered to an old apple-tree, was cream-colored, with a white
star on her forehead and a neck and head like a deer.
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