“Yes, and who am I to go with?” pouted Ruth. “I suppose I’ve got to find somebody else.”
“Ruth, if you go back on me, after all these years! Only she has already,” he added, turning to the others and pretending to be sorely grieved. “In the language of the poet, Ruth has a steady!”
“Ruth!” exclaimed Doris, dropping her macaroon. “What are you keeping from us?”
“Not a thing!” she protested. “It’s only that I see a lot of a boy that lives next door to me—quite naturally!”
“Morning—noon—and night!” hummed Jack, composing his own tune as he went along.
“Oh, Jack, that isn’t true,” she denied. “But I warn you, if you go off and leave me, I’ll jilt you for good. So there!”
“By Jupiter, I’ve a good notion not to go!” exclaimed the boy. “And I’ll bet David Conner is just dying to stand in my shoes.”
“Oh, that would never do,” objected Doris. “David and John Hadley are deadly rivals for Marjorie’s hand, and one would probably murder the other as they went along.”
“How blood-thirsty you are, Doris,” laughed Ruth, “and for such a gentle girl, too.”
In the end, however, Jack decided to stick to his duty and go. If something serious should have happened to his sister, he wanted to be there. Accordingly, early the next morning, he set off with John, while the others proceeded to their bathing party.