“Maybe we ought to warn them, Jack.”
“If we did that somebody might say we were sore because we weren’t invited, Fred.”
“I know it. But it’s a shame, just the same.”
“We might let Martha and Mary know what we found out, and then they might put a flea in the ears of the other girls.”
It must be confessed that Jack was rather sober that night and all day Sunday. He could not get the coming party out of his mind, and he wondered constantly whether Ruth would really accept the invitation which had been extended to her. Along with a number of other cadets he attended church in town, but, owing to the fact that it had begun to snow again, none of the girls from Clearwater Hall were present at the services.
“I guess I might as well call Martha up on the ’phone,” he told Fred, Sunday evening.
“All right,” was his cousin’s reply. “And don’t forget to mention May.”
When the young captain had his sister on the wire he learned a number of things that surprised him not a little. It seemed that the matter of the coming sleighride party had been rather freely discussed at Clearwater Hall, and a number of the pupils there were divided on the question as to whether to participate in the affair or not. Jennie Mason, Ida Brierley, and four or five others were in favor of accepting, while others had either declined or were noncommittal.
“Some of the girls have gotten almost into a fight over it,” said Martha. “It’s the liveliest thing that has happened in this school in a long while. I believe if the discussion keeps up none of the girls will be allowed to go, even though two married ladies from the town are to go along as chaperones.”
“Did you hear anything further about Ruth or anything about May?” questioned Jack.