Page:Carroll Rankin--Dandelion Cottage.djvu/157

 Rh  "Oh, Mabel," laughed Jean, "I hope you won't watch the loads when I move. For a girl that's slept for three weeks on an imitation pillow, you're pretty critical."

Presently the Milligans themselves arrived. Mabel happened to be counting the buds on the poppy plants when they came.

"Girls!" she cried, rushing into the cottage with the news, "They've come. I saw them all. There's a Mr. Milligan, a Mrs. Milligan, a girl, a boy, a baby and a dog. The girl's the oldest. She's just about my size—I mean height—and she has straight, light hair. The baby walks and none of them are so very good-lookmg.

It did not take the newcomers long to discover that their next-door neighbours were four little girls. Mrs. Milligan found it out that very afternoon when she went to the back door to borrow tea. Bettie explained, very politely, that Dandelion Cottage was only a playhouse, and that their