“That’s what Henry says!” said Anne, with a laugh. “Look, there she is, striding about as usual, hands in her jodhpur pockets, whistling like the stable boy!”

George scowled. Anne had been very much amused to see how Henrietta and George hated one another at sight - and yet both had so very much the same ideas. George’s real name was Georgina, but she would only answer to George. Henry’s real name was Henrietta, but she would only answer to Henry, or Harry to her very best friends!

She was about as old as George, and her hair was short too, but it wasn’t curly. “It’s a pity yours is curly,” she said to George, pityingly. “It looks so girlish, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t be an ass,” George said, curtly. “Plenty of boys have curly hair.”

The maddening part was that Henrietta was a wonderful rider, and had won all kinds of cups. George hadn’t enjoyed herself a bit during that week at the stables, because for once in a way another girl had outshone her. She couldn’t bear to see Henrietta striding about, whistling, doing everything so competently and quickly.

Anne had had many a quiet laugh to herself, especially when the two girls had each made up their minds not to call one another Henry and George, but to use their full names, Henrietta and Georgina! This meant that neither of them would answer the other when called, and Captain Johnson, the big burly owner of the riding-stables, got very tired of both of them.

“What are you behaving like this for?” he demanded one morning, seeing their sulky looks at one another at breakfast-time. “Behaving like a couple of idiotic schoolgirls!”

That made Anne laugh! A couple of idiotic schoolgirls. My goodness, how annoyed both girls were with Captain Johnson. Anne was a bit scared of him. He was hot-tempered, out-spoken, and stood no nonsense at all, but he was a wonder with the horses, and loved a good, hearty laugh. He and his wife took either boys or girls for the holidays, and worked them hard, but the children always enjoyed their stay immensely.

“If it hadn’t been for Henry, you’d have been perfectly happy this week,” said Anne, leaning back against the haystack. “We’ve had heavenly April weather, the horses are lovely, and I like Captain and Mrs Johnson very much.”

“I wish the boys were here,” said George. “They would soon put that silly Henrietta in her place. I wish I’d stayed at home now.”

“Well, you had the choice,” said Anne, rather cross. “You could have stayed at Kirrin Cottage with your father and mother, but you chose to come here with me, till the boys came back from camp. You shouldn’t make such a fuss if things aren’t exactly to your liking. It spoils things for me.”

“Sorry,” said George. “I’m being a pig, I know, but I do miss the boys. We can only be with them in the hols and it seems funny without them. There’s just one thing that pleases me here you’ll be glad to know...”