"For goodness sake! Speak, one of you, and relieve our anxiety. Marg has been making my life miserable for the last hour," exclaimed Grace.
"An hour?" repeated both boys, in surprise.
"If not longer," smiled Grace. "I told her the thing wouldn't begin till five, but that didn't make any difference. So please tell us how it came out."
"No, don't," protested Margie, her eyes on Fred's bespattered face. "I can tell—and I don't want to hear it." Then, her affection asserting itself, she put her hand on Fred's arm and breathed: "I'm so sorry! But we won't care. He's bigger than you are, anyway."
"Um-m! You ought to be willing to take a licking every day if Marg would talk like that to you," grinned Buttons.
"Well, I would," retorted the girl, a blush suffusing her pretty face, as she realized the significance of her avowal. "I——"
Something about the expression on Buttons' face, however, suggested to Grace that her chum's sympathy was wasted and she interrupted:
"Don't say another word, Marg. The boys are just drawing you on. I believe Fred won."
But neither boy made any response.
"If you don't tell us, I'll never speak to either of you again," flashed Grace.