They laughed and talked, and kept taking "just one more," till the sunshine was all gone, and the clocks struck dinner-time.
"We shall be late; let 's run," said Polly, as they came into the path after the last coast.
"You just sit still, and I 'll get you home in a jiffy;" and before she could unpack herself, Tom trotted off with her at a fine pace.
"Here 's a pair of cheeks! I wish you 'd get a color like this, Fanny," said Mr.Shaw, as Polly came into the dining-room after smoothing her hair.
"Your nose is as red as that cranberry sauce," answered Fan, coming out of the big chair where she had been curled up for an hour or two, deep in "Lady Audley's Secret." "So it is," said Polly, shutting one eye to look at the offending feature.

"Never mind; I 've had a good time, anyway," she added, giving a little prance in her chair.
"I don't see much fun in these cold runs you are so fond of taking," said Fanny, with a yawn and a shiver.
"Perhaps you would if you tried it;" and Polly laughed as she glanced at Tom.
"Did you go alone, dear ?" asked grandma, patting the rosy cheek beside her.
"Yes 'm; but I met Tom, and we came home together." Polly's eyes twinkled when she said that, and Tom choked in his soup.
"Thomas, leave the table!" commanded Mr.Shaw, as his incorrigible son gurgled and gasped behind his napkin.
"Please don't send him away, sir.

I made him laugh," said Polly, penitently.
"What's the joke ?" asked Fanny, waking up at last.
"I should n't think you 'd make him laugh, when he 's always making you cwy," observed Maud, who had just come in.
"What have you been doing now, sir ?" demanded Mr.Shaw, as Tom emerged, red and solemn, from his brief obscurity.
"Nothing but coast," he said, gruffly, for papa was always lecturing him, and letting the girls do just as they liked.
"So 's Polly; I saw her.

Me and Blanche were coming home just now, and we saw her and Tom widing down the hill on his sled, and then he dwagged her ever so far!" cried Maud, with her mouth full.
"You did n't ?" and Fanny dropped her fork with a scandalized face.
"Yes, I did, and liked it ever so much," answered Polly, looking anxious but resolute.
"Did any one see you ?" cried Fanny.
"Only some little girls, and Tom." "It was horridly improper; and Tom ought to have told you so, if you did n't know any better.

I should be mortified to death if any of my friends saw you," added Fan, much disturbed.
"Now, don't you scold.