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Page 17
"Won't you take off your coat?" asked Isabel. "You'll catch cold when
you go out, if you don't take it off."
"Thanks," responded Juliet, somewhat stiffly. Then she stretched out
both hands to her hostess, laughing as she did so. "Look!" The sweater
sleeves had crept up to her elbows, displaying several inches of bare,
red arm between the sleeves and the short white gloves.
"That's just like us," remarked Romeo. "If we try to be elegant,
something always happens."
The twins looked very much alike. They were quite tall and still
retained the dear awkwardness of youth, in spite of the near approach of
their twenty-first birthday. They had light brown curly hair, frank blue
eyes that met the world with interest and delight, well-shaped mouths,
not too small, and stubborn little chins. A high colour bloomed on their
cheeks and they fairly radiated the joy of living.
"Can you skate?" inquired Romeo.
"No," smiled Isabel.
"Juliet can. She can skate as far as I can, and almost as fast."
"Romie taught me," observed Juliet, with becoming modesty.
"Do you play hockey? No, of course you don't, if you don't skate," he
went on, answering his own question. "Can you swim?"
"No," responded Isabel, sweetly.
"Jule's a fine swimmer. She saved a man's life once, two Summers ago."
"Romie taught me," said Juliet, beaming at her brother.
"Can you row?" he asked, politely.
"No," replied Isabel, shortly. "I'm afraid of the water."
"Juliet can row. She won the women's canoe race in the regatta last
Summer. The prize was twenty-five dollars in gold."
"Romie taught me," put in Juliet.
"We'll teach you this Summer," said Romeo, with a frank, boyish smile
that showed his white teeth.
"Thank you," responded Isabel, inwardly vowing that they wouldn't.
"Juliet can do most everything I can," went on Romeo, with the teacher's
pardonable pride in his pupil. "She can climb a tree in her knickers,
and fish and skate and row and swim and fence, and play golf and tennis,
and shoot, and dive from a spring board, and she can ride anything that
has four legs."
"Romeo taught me," chanted Juliet, in a voice surprisingly like his own.
There was an awkward pause, then Romeo turned to his hostess. "What can
you do?" he asked, meaning to be deferential. Isabel thought she
detected a faint trace of sarcasm, so her answer was rather tart.
"I don't do many of the things that men do," she said, "but I speak
French and German, I can sing and play a little, sew and embroider, and
trim hats if I want to, and paint on china, and do two fancy dances. And
when I go back home, I'm going to learn to run an automobile."
The twins looked at each other. "We never thought of it," said Juliet,
much crestfallen.
"Wonder how much they cost," remarked Romeo, thoughtfully.
"Where can you buy 'em?" Juliet inquired. "Anywhere in town?"
"I suppose so," Isabel assented. "Why?"
"Why?" they repeated together. "We're going to buy one and learn to run
it!"
"You must have lots of money," said Isabel, enviously.
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