Do you know , Ma says she will let us play in the coach-house next time it rains , and keep the key if we want to . '' `` Oh , goody ! that 's because we told her how we found the little window under the woodbine , and did n't try to go in , though we might have just as easy as not , '' cried Betty , appeased at once , for , after a ten years ' acquaintance , she had grown used to Bab 's peppery temper . `` I suppose the coach will be all dust and rats and spiders , but I do n't care . You and the dolls can be the passengers , and I shall sit up in front drive . '' `` You always do . I shall like riding better than being horse all the time , with that old wooden bit in my mouth , and you jerking my arms off , '' said poor Betty , who was tired of being horse continually . `` I guess we 'd better go and get the water now , '' suggested Bab , feeling that it was not safe to encourage her sister in such complaints . `` It is not many people who would dare to leave their children all alone with such a lovely cake , and know they would n't pick at it , '' said Betty proudly , as they trotted away to the spring , each with a little tin pail in her hand . Alas , for the faith of these too confiding mammas ! They were gone about five minutes , and when they returned a sight met their astonished eyes which produced a simultaneous shriek of horror . Flat upon their faces lay the fourteen dolls , and the cake , the cherished cake , was gone . For an instant the little girls could only stand motionless , gazing at the dreadful scene . Then Bab cast her water-pail wildly away , and , doubling up her fist , cried out fiercely , -- `` It was that Sally ! She said she 'd pay me for slapping her when she pinched little Mary Ann , and now she has . I 'll give it to her ! You run that way . I 'll run this . Quick ! quick ! ''
Away they went , Bab racing straight on , and bewildered XXXXX turning obediently round to trot in the opposite direction as fast as she could , with the water splashing all over her as she ran , for she had forgotten to put down her pail .
Ann Bab Betty Ma Sally coach-house spiders water-pail woodbine years