“Sure!” said Lollie, looking into the pleading blue eyes. “What you say, goes. Me to the Bernie!”
He skated after Bernice, overtook her, and holding out his hands said, “You’re a dandy skater, catch on!”
Gladly Bernice joined hands, and in a moment they were gaily skating among the others. Dolly, delighted at the sight, looked about for somebody to skate with, herself.
A laughing face peeped from behind a tree, and Reggie Stuart came cautiously forth. “Hid from the other one,” he explained. “Thought you’d never get her fixed up. Why are you in charge of her goings and comings, Dolly?”
“ ’Cause I want to be. Now, you be good, Reg. If you’re my friend, you’ve got to be Bernice’s, too. Come on, let’s skate. I’m bothered in my head and perhaps it will tangle up my feet, but we’ll try.”
It didn’t; on the contrary, the delightful exercise soothed Dolly’s wrought-up nerves, and with every stroke she became more her own gay, merry self.
“Look out for yourself!” she cried, as Reggie nearly tripped over a chunk of ice.
“Yes, I am a tangle-footed jay! Always getting in the way!”
“Nonsense! You’re a fine skater! Let’s catch up to Dot and Joe.”
As the afternoon wore on, Dolly saw several times that Bernice was standing alone and neglected. Several of the boys, at Dolly’s insistence, or at Dotty’s request, had skated with her, but only for short excursions, and somehow all the popularity that Bernice had enjoyed the night before seemed to be fading away.