Mary laughed a little ruefully.
“You’re just right! That’s exactly how it happened,” she said. “She told me that no one would be able to do as much with these girls as I could, and then, when she had me feeling properly ashamed of myself, she turned right around and began to make me see how much fun I would have out of it myself. So I talked to Miss Halsted, and made her go to see Mrs. Chester–and here we are!”
Suddenly Eleanor collapsed weakly against one of the empty packing boxes that littered the place, and began to laugh.
“Oh, my dear,” she exclaimed, “if you only knew the awful things we were thinking about you before we knew who you were!”
“Why? Do you mean to say that you’re snobbish, too, and didn’t want neighbors you didn’t know? Like my girls at Lake Dean?”
“No, but we thought you might be kidnappers, or murderers, or fire-bugs, like our last neighbors!”
“Eleanor! Are you crazy–and if you’re not, what on earth are you talking about?”
“I’m not as crazy as I seem to be, Mary. It’s only fair to tell you now that this beach may be a pretty troubled spot while we’re here. We seem to attract trouble just as a magnet attracts iron.”
“I think you are crazy, Nell. If you’re not, won’t you explain what you mean?”
“Look at our camp over there, Mary. It’s pretty solid and complete, isn’t it?”