“Ahem!” exclaimed Dodd. “Are you ready for the question? The question is to play or not to play. This is an item in the ‘Newtown Register’ and, as you will observe, was written with a complete knowledge of all the facts.”
“Read it. Don’t waste so much time talking,” cried Sam.
“The item is as follows,” said Dill. “That is, I shall read only that part relating to you girls and your entry. What it says about the other entries, of course, will be of no interest to you just now. Later on it may. I quote from the ‘Register’: ‘Not the least interesting among the entries for the Atlantic Coast Tennis Tournament is that of the Meadow-Brook Girls of Meadow-Brook, New Hampshire. This is not, strictly speaking, a tennis club. The young women who form this organization have become known to the public by reason of numerous vacation tours which they have made on foot and by automobile throughout the State. Their thorough athletic training, coupled with their proficiency in outdoor sports, will make them formidable contestants. We shall welcome them to the Coast Tournament and hope to have them with us as long as they remain eligible for the classes offered here.’ Then follows the family history of each of you girls,” added Dill mischievously.
“My grathiouth, you don’t thay tho!” exclaimed Tommy. “Won’t my father be ath mad ath a hatter! He thayth young girlth thhould be theen but not heard.”
“Here’s another from the ‘Gazette,’” announced George, passing a second slip to his companion.
“‘Great interest is being manifested in the entry of the well known organization who call themselves the Meadow-Brook Girls,’” read Dill. “‘Their coming is awaited with deep interest by the summer visitors as well as the regular residents of Newtown, who are justly proud of old New Hampshire’s girls.’”
“I fear you have involved yourself and us in a scrape, Captain George,” said Miss Elting. “I know something about tennis, and have played a few games. I know, too, that long practice is necessary even to play an ordinary game of it. But even in my case, I can’t say that I know enough about the game to instruct any one else. You must go to Mr. Herrington and tell him frankly that the entry was made under a misapprehension, and that it must be withdrawn.”
“What, after all thothe complimentth?” demanded Tommy. “Never! I’ll play the whole tournament mythelf firtht.”
“No, George,” insisted the guardian, “it isn’t possible. You must cancel the entry. My girls do not play tennis, and that is all there is about it. I am, of course, ineligible, much as I should like to keep up the reputation of the Meadow-Brook Girls. We are very sorry to disappoint you.”
“George will have to go to Newtown and tell Herrington all about it,” declared Dill. “We have made fools of ourselves, but through no fault of the girls. We should have found out whether or not they played the game before entering them in the tournament.”