The guests for the quilting party arrived at an early hour in the afternoon. All that morning Faith and Aunt Prissy were busy. Dishes filled with red apples were brought up from the cellar; cakes were made ready, and the house in order before dinner time.  
Only one little girl, Jane Tuttle, had been asked to come in the early afternoon. Jane was about Faith’s age, and at school they were in the same classes. She was not very tall, and was very fat. Jane was one of the children whom Caroline and Catherine Young had taken especial delight in teasing.
 
“Jane, Jane! Fat and plain;
With a button nose and turned-in toes,”
they would call after her, until the little girl dreaded¹ the very sight of them. When Faith [Pg 162]had proved that she was not afraid of the sisters Jane Tuttle became her steadfast² admirer, and was greatly pleased to come in the afternoon with her mother. But she was surprised to find Louise Trent there before her, and evidently very much at home. However, she was too kind-hearted a child not to be pleasant and polite to the lame³ girl, and Louise was now as ready to make friends as, before knowing Faith, she had been sullen⁴ and unfriendly.
 
Each of the girls was encouraged to set a few neat stitches in the quilt. Then, on the arrival of Mrs. Fairbanks and Mrs. Lewis, Aunt Prissy told Faith that if she wanted to take the little girls to her own room she might do so.
 
There was a glowing fire on the hearth⁵, and Faith was pleased for Jane to see her pleasant chamber⁶, and to introduce “Lady Amy.”
 
“I wish I had brought my doll,” said Jane, as the little girls gathered in front of the fire. “Mine is one my mother made for me.”
 
“There, Louise! We could make you a doll!” exclaimed Faith, knowing how much her friend had always wished for a doll of her own.
 
But Louise shook her head.[Pg 163] “I guess I am too old for dolls; I’m twelve,” she said slowly, “and I don’t have time to make dresses for dolls now that I’m learning to read and write. You see,” and she turned to Jane, “I keep house for my father.”
 
Jane looked at Louise, wondering to herself why she had ever imagined that Louise Trent was a girl that she could not have for a friend. Why, Louise was really pretty! thought fat little Jane, looking admiringly at the smooth black hair, and the neat and pretty dress. And so nearly grown-up, too. Twelve years old! Jane resolved to go and see Louise, and to ask her to come for a visit.
 
“I shall always play with dolls,” she heard Faith declare. “I’d like to have a regiment⁷ of dolls, and play games with them. Wouldn’t it be fun to have dolls that we could make up names for, and then have them do all sorts of things?”
 
Louise and Jane agreed that would be a fine game.
 
“We could dress up the pillows on your bed for dolls,” suggested Louise.
 
“Yes, and put my dresses on them,” responded Faith eagerly, running to the closet [Pg 164]and bringing out the blue dress, a skirt and a small shawl. It was not long before two “cushiony” figures, as large as Jane, were seated on the bed.
 
“Let’s put our coats and caps on them, Faith; and when the other girls come this evening we’ll make them think the pillows are company,” suggested Louise.
 
Jane jumped about the room with delight as Faith and Louise adjusted the caps and fur coats.
 
“We’ll introduce them as Annie Snow and Mary White,” said Faith. “It will be fun to see what the girls will say.”
 
Four little girls were expected, and several boy friends of Donald’s. Aunt Prissy wondered a little at Faith’s eagerness to take the girls directly up-stairs on their arrival, but she was greatly pleased to see that Louise, Jane and Faith were evidently having a delightful⁸ time.
 
It was nearly dusk when the little visitors arrived, and Faith’s room was rather dim and shadowy. The little girls coming in were rather surprised to find that there were strangers, evidently just arrived, sitting on Faith’s bed.
 
“Girls, these are two of my best friends, Annie Snow and Mary White,” said Faith, trying [Pg 165]hard not to laugh, as her schoolmates bowed politely and greeted the stout⁹ figures on the bed, who, apparently¹⁰, did not hear the introductions.
 
Jane, giggling¹¹ with delight, circled around the newcomers; while Louise seated herself on the bed and began talking to Annie Snow. Faith endeavored to make the newcomers at ease, and it was not long before she had to run down-stairs to help her aunt with the supper, leaving Louise and Jane to carry on the game.
 
The children were to have their supper in the kitchen. The tables for young and old had been spread before the arrival of any of the guests, so there was but little for Aunt Prissy and Faith to do before calling the guests to supper.
 
Louise was the last one to enter the kitchen, her face radiant with fun and delight at the success of “Annie Snow” and “Mary White.” She found a chance to tell Faith that “Annie” and “Mary” had managed to say that they didn’t feel like eating supper, and that the girls had not yet discovered the joke.
 
“We’ll bring them down after supper,” Faith whispered.
 
“Are your friends from the Wilderness¹²?” asked Peggy Tibbetts, the oldest girl of the party, as Faith sat down beside her.
 
“No,” Faith answered slowly. “They are both coming down after supper, and I know you will be surprised when I tell you that they live right in this house.”
 
Peggy Tibbetts was surprised. She looked almost frightened, and lost no time in whispering this information to the other girls; so that when Faith announced that she would run up-stairs and ask “............