"Of course, and didn't I keep it well? Dick told me weeks ago that they were coming."
"I say, it is jolly. We will have some fun, won't we?" It was Nathalie who spoke.
"It is a perfect god-send," declared Emily Varian, solemnly. "Nan, your secret is a success, and I congratulate you."
"I wonder," ruminated Jean, "who the men are, and whether we will really like them."
"Time will tell," spoke Helen, a bit indifferently. "Come, girls, we must be going. Here is the carriage."
Almost every evening the young people gathered together on the Lawrences' broad veranda, and to-night was no exception to the rule. When the girls strolled out from the dining room, they found Nan and Emily sitting on the steps.
"Why, we never heard you at all," said Jean. "You must have come over the lawn like—oh dear, I can't think of a comparison. The night is too warm for one to exert one's brain unnecessarily."
Nathalie seated herself on the railing.
"Here come Eleanor and Wendell Churchill."
"Ah!" laughed Jean teasingly. Her sister looked around at her with heightened color.