It's no use trying to make boys polite!"
"Isn't it?" said Katy, thinking of Phil and Dorry, and wondering what Mrs. Page could mean.
"Hullo, Lilly!" broke in Clarence, spying his sister as it seemed for the first time.
"How d'you do?" said Lilly, carelessly.
"I was wondering how long it would be before you would condescend to notice my existence."
"I didn't see you."
"I know you didn't.
I never knew such a boy!
You might as well have no eyes at all."
Clarence scowled, and went on with his supper.
His mother seemed unable to let him alone.
"Clarence, don't take such large mouthfuls!
Clarence, pray use your napkin!
Clarence, your elbows are on the table, sir!
Now, Clarence, don't try to speak until you have swallowed all that bread,"—came every other moment.
Katy felt very sorry for Clarence.
His manners were certainly bad, but it seemed quite dreadful that public attention should be thus constantly called to them.
The evening was rather dull.
There was a sort of put-in-order-for- company air about the parlor, which made everybody stiff.
Mrs. Page did not sew or read, but sat in a low chair looking like a lady in a fashion plate, and asked questions about Hillsover, some of which were not easy to answer, as, for example,
"Have you any other intimate friends among the school-girls beside Lilly?"
About eight o'clock a couple of young, very young, gentlemen came in, at the sight of whom Lilly, who was half asleep, brightened and became lively and talkative.
One of them was the Mr. Hickman, whose father married Mr. Page's sister-in-law's sister, thus making him in some mysterious way a "first cousin" of Lilly's.
He was an Arrowmouth student, and seemed to have so many jokes to laugh over with Lilly that before long they conversed in whispers.
The other youth, introduced as Mr. Eels, was left to entertain the other three ladies, which duty he performed by sucking the head of his cane in silence while they talked to him.
He too was an Arrowmouth Sophomore.
In the midst of the conversation, the door, which stood ajar, opened a little wider, and a dog's head appeared, followed by a tail, which waggled so beseechingly for leave to come farther that Clover, who liked dogs, put out her hand at once.
He was not pretty, being of a pepper-and-salt color, with a blunt nose and no particular sort of a tail, but looked good-natured; and Clover fondled him cordially, while Mr. Eels took his cane out of his mouth to ask,
"What kind of a dog is that, Mrs. Page?"
"I'm sure I don't know," she replied; while Lilly, from the distance, added affectedly,
"Oh, he's the most dreadful dog, Mr. Eels.
My brother picked him up in the street, and none of us know the least thing about him, except that he's the commonest kind of dog,—a sort of cur, I believe."
"That's not true!" broke in a stern voice from the hall, which made everybody jump; and Katy, looking that way, was aware of a vengeful eye glaring at Lilly through the crack of the door.
"He's a very valuable dog, indeed,—half mastiff and half terrier, with a touch of the bull-dog,—so there, Miss!"
The effect of this remark was startling.
Lilly gave a scream; Mrs. Page rose, and hurried to the door; while the dog, hearing his master's voice, rushed that way also, got before her, and almost threw her down.
Katy and Clover could not help laughing, and Mr. Eels, meeting their amused eyes, removed the cane from his mouth, and grew conversible.
"That Clarence is a droll chap!" he remarked confidentially.
"Bright, too!
He'd be a nice fellow if he wasn't picked at so much.
It never does a fellow any good to be picked at,—now does it, Miss Carr?"
"No: I don't think it does."
"I say," continued Mr. Eels,
"I've seen you young ladies up at Hillsover, haven't I?
Aren't you both at the Nunnery?"
"Yes. It's vacation now, you know."
"I was sure I'd seen you.
You had a room on the side next the President's, didn't you?
I thought so.
We fellows didn't know your names, so we called you 'The Real Nuns.'"