"Get out of the way, Taffy. Get out!" Peggy commanded impatiently, and the dog whined his disappointment at such a greeting. But Elaine, when Peggy reached her, was laughing and crying together. "You poor darling!" Peggy flung her arms about her friend and glared defiantly into the darkness. "What happened? Did you see anything?" "It must have been the--the dog," sobbed Elaine. "He came up be-behind me so softly, I didn’t hear him, and I saw his eyes in the mirror. I d-didn’t know he was down here." By the time the two had got upstairs, merriment had replaced consternation among Peggy’s guests. The appearance of Taffy, waving a triumphant yellow tail, suggested the explanation of the mystery, rather to the disappointment of some whose expectations had been so highly keyed that the truth seemed really commonplace. The appearance of Elaine, her lashes moist, and her lips still trembling, was the signal for friendly advances on the part of all. The girls gathered about the crestfallen heroine, patted her, petted her, praised her courage in attempting such an adventure, and assured her that none of them would have been brave enough to try it. Occasionally a hint of patronage peeped through the comfort, and Elaine was made aware that she had forfeited her reputation for courage almost as soon as she had made it. But, on the whole, the kindliness was comforting to a girl who carried a sore spot in her inmost heart, and in spite of the untoward ending Elaine carried home a very pleasant impression of her first party on Friendly Terrace. *CHAPTER VI* *ELAINE HAS VISITORS* It was Priscilla who, on the way home from school the next day, suggested stopping to see if Elaine had quite recovered from the effects of the Hallowe’en party. She made the remark to Peggy, but Amy, who with Ruth was walking just behind the others, took it on herself to answer. "Yes, that was just what I was thinking. It wouldn’t be any more than neighborly after her fright, and all the rest of it." Priscilla choked down an exasperated sigh. She said to herself it was strange Amy couldn’t realize that there might be occasions when one wanted Peggy to one’s self. At the same time it was not altogether Amy’s obtuseness which was responsible for the difficulty of monopolizing Peggy’s society. Peggy herself, with her trick of liking everybody, and expecting all her friends to like one another, made monopoly difficult, if not impossible.