it became a tea table and doll's dishes were spread upon it. With the advent of the swing and its attendant amusements Sara seemed to have forgotten boys and all their works. No longer did she urge to be allowed to play "cops and robbers" no longer did she wish to play hide and seek. One-old-cat and any amount of old cats had lost their joy for her.
Meanwhile, on the fringe of this enchanted ground boys gathered, crying:
"Aw, come on, Sara, let's have just one swing! Aw, come on, we'll push you as high as you want!"
To this Sara replied primly:
"My father says I'm to play in the swing by myself without boys. He thinks boys are too rough."
This last was Sara's invention.
"Come on!" they begged, "come on, let's play house with you, Sara! Let's play school with you."
"No," said Sara, "we girls don't want any boys around. No, Robert Marcey, I won't let you touch my doll. Last time you had my doll you said you was an Indian, and if Mother'd let you use matches you'd have scalped her and burned her, and, anyhow, you buried her and got her awful dirty."
"You've asked and begged to have Sara taken off your hands," Alice told Robert with that logic which is so irritating to childhood. "Now Sara is perfectly happy amusing herself, I see no reason why you can't amuse yourselves alone."
"Well, we want to swing sometimes, don't we?" Robert asked in an aggrieved voice. "We aren't going to hurt the girls, are we?"
"You can use the swing at the hours your father told you."
"Yes, and when's that?" Robert asked, disgustedly.
