“Now, Sis, don’t be silly! Everybody’s in the gang together. I’ve got to play with the Smith boys or else stay home by myself.”
With a yell of good-bye for his mother, the boy was off.
Mary Louise and Jane sat down to their breakfast. Mrs. Gay, who had eaten hers with Freckles, came in to talk to them.
“What have you on the program for today?” she inquired.
“Oh, the usual things,” answered her daughter. “Tennis with the bunch this morning, and I suppose everybody will go in swimming about eleven o’clock. David is coming over to talk about fixing up our canoe for the contest tomorrow night.”
Jane coughed nervously.
“I—uh—sort of promised Cliff I’d go in his motorboat, Mary Lou,” she said. “Would that be all right?”
“Sure it’s all right,” agreed her chum. “It’ll be even better, because the less weight we have in our canoe, the more decoration we can put on. And there’s a prize for each type of boat, you know.”
“Then I shan’t be competing against you if I go in Cliff’s launch?”
“Oh no, we are in separate classes.”