"Yes?"
"You know Sid DuPree?"
He nodded.
"Well, he's trying to cut you out with Louise. Saw her in the corner drug store with him, drinking ice cream sodas."
John's foot caught in a piece of loosened turf at the edge of the gravel walk. Otherwise, he gave no sign that he had heard.
"Aren't mad because I told you, are you?"
"No."
His paper route had kept him too busy to give the attention due her, but if Louise were inclined to succumb to the blandishments of ten-cent sodas at a drug store, he was glad to know it. Such incidents might result in disaster for the great plan if allowed to run unhindered.
"Feel's like a thaw," said Bill, trying to rouse his chum from the revery into which his announcement had plunged him.
Again John nodded. Indeed there was a curious softness in the air. Perhaps the promise of a long skating season was to prove false after all. But he must see Louise, the very moment of her return. Then Sid had better watch out.