Fourth of July, were permissible; but dreams of mistletoe in the spring, and the early spring at that, indicated nothing but an unpleasant and embarrassing perversity in the mind of a young female.
For some days after that Robert refused—absolutely refused, to play with Sara. He was diplomatic.
"Every time she comes around they'll pick on Bill," was his explanation, "and then there'll be a scrap—you don't want a scrap? You always say you don't want a scrap."
It was here that Tom Marcey came to what he would have called the rescue.
"Sara," he said, "has got to have exercise. On the other hand, you can't let her butt in on the boys if they doN't want her. I'm going to put up a swing for Sara, and it's to be hers for certain hours. At those times the boys can't come near it."
"You know," Alice protested, "those'll be just the hours the boys will want the swing."
"Let it be the hours," said that illogical male. "Good for them—teach them something!"
Just what it would teach them he didn't make ap-parent.
Alice saw exercise in that swing; moreover, she saw trouble ahead.
"Why can't they use it all together?" she asked.
"Because then Sara would never get a show at it at all, and you know she wouldn't," replied Tom. "I'm going to see fair play."
The swing altered Sara's spiritual status. From being Tom's dependent, she was like a person who has been given his own bank account. She now had gifts to bestow. At first Sara and her little friends who gathered from neighboring houses used it for the legitimate purpose of swings, that is to say for swinging. Later
