"Wait a minute! Maybe Alec wasn't really trying to overhear what we said. Perhaps he only meant to give us a scare. How about it, Alec?"
"You got the right dope!" affirmed the young rascal. "D'ye think I'd waste my valuable time listening to the chatter of a lot of Sadies? Nix on that! I just crept in there to give the glad whoop and raise you out of your chairs!"
Alexander never teased Margaret. Her pathetic confinement to her invalid-chair appealed to his rowdy little soul, and between them there had always been an unspoken compact of peace.
"But how much did you hear?" reiterated Jess.
"Well, I couldn't help getting wise to some!" admitted Alexander wickedly, conscious that this same admission was gall and wormwood to the souls of the twins. "Heard a lot of stuff about finding a book in our attic, and George Washington, and a swell guy called Madame something-or-other and some kind of a dinky sapphire thing, and a kid called Alison. Say! she must have been some girl! But, gosh!—you needn't think I wanted to hear it! I was only waiting for the chance to give you the merry ha-ha!"
Dismay fell once more on the circle. Bess had now released him, and he stood upright, jammed his hands in his pockets, and grinned on them with a curious mixture of triumph, defiance, and pure impishness. It was Corinne who became suddenly inspired with a brilliant idea.
"Look here, girls! I vote that we make Alexander a member of the club! What do you say?"
"Gee! I don't want to be!" exclaimed the boy in a panic, making a sudden dive to escape.
"Oh, yes you would, if you knew all about it! Wouldn't he, Margaret? It's just the kind of thing a boy would go crazy about. There's so much adventure in it!"