The tall boy standing between Peggy and Bill put out his hand, and Elizabeth slipped hers into it.
"I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Stoddard," she said.
The warning cry from Peggy came too late.
"Now, you've done it!" she said.
"What has she done?" the tall boy asked. His eyes were brown and amused, and he had to look down several inches even to reach the level of the lanky Peggy.
"Nothing, really. She had a—sore finger, and I was afraid——"
"I've heard about that sore finger before," Bill said, "there's some kind of a mystery about it."
"We're just full of the dickens to-day," Peggy explained, hastily, "this sparkly air has gone to my head—our heads, I guess. Elizabeth always behaves better than I do, but she's as far gone as she ever is to-day. We've just been giggling at nothing all the morning."
"If you can call Mabel and Madget nothing," Elizabeth supplemented.
"Let's go eat, let's go eat, let's go eat," Bill chanted. "I am so starved, I am weak. Tom and I didn't eat any breakfast this morning."