Laura listened and flushed; but she remained silent. Since her visit to the Plornish tenement, and since she had read the playbill from Keyport that Jess had brought her, Laura had been very gravely exercised in her mind regarding Lily Pendleton. But she could not bring herself to the point of taking either her father or mother into her confidence. It was not her own secret; it was Lily’s.
The following morning the rehearsal of “The Spring Road” went with a snap and vim that delighted everybody. Miss Gould could not praise the girls and boys too highly. Even Mr. Pizotti signified his satisfaction with the way in which the play proceeded. Really, the actual production of the piece would go on well without his presence, although the sum they had agreed to pay the stage manager covered the three performances of the play already arranged for.
Laura and Jess went down to the lake after luncheon to meet the two boys. The Blue Streak, fresh in a new coat of paint, and with every part of the mechanism guaranteed in perfect order, was already hauled out upon the ice.
The surface of the lake was not as it had been when the girls had taken their first ride on the aero-iceboat. Then the ice was like glass; but now it was pebbly, broken in spots, and not a little “hummocky.” There was a stiff wind blowing, too, and this broke up the thinner ice around the water-holes. The course for sleighs and for iceboats was fairly safe, however, all the way to Keyport.
“Say! we just saw Lily going driving with that sleek little foreigner,” said Lance, as the two girls appeared. “I should think Mrs. Pendleton would send a chaperone with her daughter. Old Mike, the coachman, is right under the girl’s thumb.”
“What do you mean, Lance?” asked Laura, quickly.
“Why, Lil Pendleton and the stage manager are out there in the Pendletons’ sleigh. They’re aiming for Keyport. And Lil has a big box in the sleigh. Guess they are taking lunch along.”
“Lunch!” ejaculated Chet. “Why, that yellow box would hold enough for an army.”
“My goodness me! A yellow box?” cried Jess. “Was it that box in which Lil has been bringing her costumes to and from the rehearsals?”
“Dunno,” said Chet, not much interested.