"Sure thing!" came the reply, and in another minute Bert Fayre stood in the doorway.
He was a tall, slender boy of seventeen with brown hair and eyes and he looked at Dolly with a pained expression.
"Poor old Doll!" he said softly; "I'm so sorry for you!"
"Oh, it isn't very bad now, Bert," and Dolly smiled cheerfully. "Come on in and meet Mrs. Rose and Bob. They're our next door neighbours."
Bert came in and greeted the visitors with an easy grace. Then going over to Dolly he kissed her affectionately and sat down beside her.
The two boys silently sized each other up and each concluded that the other seemed to be "A little bit of all right."
They attended different schools, and soon were deep in a discussion of their school doings. Dolly lay back among her pillows and looked at them. She adored her brother and she decided that Dotty's brother was also worthy of consideration. She liked Bob's breezy offhand way which was not at all like Bert's gentle, kindly manner. But they were two awfully nice boys and she felt sure they were going to be friends. If only she could be up and around and have good times with them! A slight pang of envy swept over her, as she heard Bob enthusiastically declare that he was going to have Dot out of bed and downstairs in short order. For no amount of enthusiasm or energy could work that miracle for Dolly, in less than a month. But she did not show this disappointment and chatted gaily with the boys and with Mrs. Rose and her own mother.
As the days went by the four young people became good friends. The boys were chummy from the first and nearly every day they carried messages back and forth for the girls. But there were long hours when the girls were alone, and both patient Dolly and impatient Dotty deeply wished they had never tried that roller-skate race.
"There's no use celebrating the Fourth of July," said Bert disconsolately, a few days before the Fourth. "We don't want a celebration that the girls can't see."