“You will be careful, girls, won’t you?” begged Betty. “You won’t stare at them or—or—act too interested?”
“Never,” Mary promised solemnly. “We shall be completely absorbed in you. Besides, it would be against all the rules for good match-making.”
But down in the orange grove, in spite of the excitement over Betty’s narrow escape and the counter attraction of a banana-eating contest between Bob and Eleanor, it was impossible for any of the nine girls to keep their eyes turned resolutely away from Ethel and Dr. Eaton.
“My, but isn’t he devoted!” whispered Bob.
“They aren’t even trying to pretend,” declared Helen softly. “I think the pretending was Miss Hale’s idea. I’m positive he’s wanted to be devoted before, only she wouldn’t allow it.”
“And now she likes it as well as he does,” added Madeline. “She isn’t even thinking of blushing and running away.”
“Which proves that all the hero needed was a chance,” murmured Mary Brooks, proud of her discernment.
Roberta sat down beside Betty, bringing her a glass of cocoanut “milk” to taste.
“Aren’t you pleased about the novel?” she asked.
“Isn’t it comical?” laughed Betty. “I was the one that didn’t believe in the novel, as you call it, and now I seem to be the one who has helped it along. But just the same, Roberta,—don’t tell Mary, because I can’t argue the way she can,—but I’m perfectly sure that all Mary’s scheming hasn’t had a thing to do with it.”