"No; you tell them."
"Oh, leave me out of it, please."
"I could not do that. You will take dinner with us to-day, of course, and then you may announce it to the girls. I can imagine how pleased they will be. Why, there come the girls now!" exclaimed the Chief Guardian.
"The girls?"
"Yes, yes. Jane—"
"Eh? Alone?"
"No, no. There is Miss Elting and Harriet. Yes, they are all there. What can it mean?"
"It means that they have smashed the car," groaned Mr. McCarthy. "I told you." He did not look around, but sat fumbling with his hat, his face very red. Jane stepped up before him, and with chin on her breast surveyed him from under her eyelashes, "Well?" he demanded.
"Well, we're here," answered Jane.
"What is the trouble, girls?" cried Mrs. Livingston. "Thank goodness, you are all here. Why doesn't some one speak up?"