Uncle Dan was as pleased as the little girls. He talked much more than usual during supper, and after it was over and the dishes were being washed, he came to where his sister was mixing bread.
“All right for me to ask Olive?” he inquired.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill, smiling a little. “Tell her we all want her to go with us.”
Dan was off in a hurry, but before he went he gave his sister an awkward hug.
Never were dishes done with such speed! Mrs. Merrill looked at them suspiciously but did not say a word. Lucy had washed them properly and Dora had wiped them as dry as could be, even though they worked so fast. And yet neither of them knew why they were hurrying. They were not to go to the beach for three days, not until Saturday.
There was plenty to do between then and the end of the week. First, they had to decide what clothes to take, and were surprised to find that Mother did not think as they did about the dresses. She came and looked at them when Lucy and Dora had laid them out on their bed.
“You won’t need your good clothes,” she said. “Those must be kept for school. You will be playing on the beach all day, and not need to be dressed up. When we go over, you will have on one good dress apiece, and that is enough.”
Lucy and Dora were disappointed. They thought that people who went away on a vacation should take all their best clothes.
“But not people who live in tents,” said Mrs. Merrill. “That makes a great difference. We are only going to camp, you know.”