"Bully!" shouted Fred, suddenly smiting him on the shoulder. "Do you suppose they're going to let you go to Rockledge with me this fall?"
"Rockledge School? No such luck," groaned Bobby. "You see, mother won't hear of that. Your mother has a big family, Fred, and she can spare you—"
"Glad to get rid of me for a while, I guess," chuckled the red-haired boy.
"Well, my mother isn't. So I can't go to boarding school with you," sighed Bobby.
"Well," said the restless Fred, "let's get a move on us if we're going to Plunkit's."
"We must get some lunch," said Bobby, starting up once more. "Say! has Meena got the toothache again?"
"She didn't have her head tied up. But she's real cross," admitted Fred.
"She'll have the toothache if I ask for lunch, I know," grumbled Bobby. "She always does. She says boys give her the toothache."
Nevertheless, he led the way to the kitchen. There the tall, angular Swede cast an unfavorable light blue eye upon them.
"I ban jes' clean up mine kitchen," she complained.