“Time for ’em to stiffen in two weeks,” he observed soberly.
“Your new school will occupy your mind meantime so it won’t seem so long, Tommy,” Meadowcroft remarked encouragingly.
Tommy rose. “I hate to walk,” he said suddenly, à propos of nothing, so far as one could judge.
He wandered restlessly about the room. “You see it ain’t as if I shouldn’t have exercise. I shall play ball with the boys recesses and at lunch time—we South Paulding people have to carry our luncheons and stay all day. And when it’s rainy I can go up to the book-store and see if they’ve got anything new in magic.”
“It will be first-rate to play ball, certainly,” Meadowcroft declared. “You’re pale, and you don’t carry yourself well. You don’t make the most of your inches.”
“I play a very decent game of ball,” Tommy remarked.
“I daresay.”
“Of course, it’s fine for Betty to walk. She’s crazy about it—partly the novelty, you know,” he remarked sagely.
“It is an exercise one doesn’t readily tire of, I believe.”
“And Rose walking with her, there’s no need of anyone else,” Tommy declared decidedly. “And there are houses all along the way and school is out at half-past two, so they’ll be home at four dead easy.”