“You’re enough to demoralize anybody, Betty Nelson,” said Mollie, giving her a hug. “You won’t even let us pretend we don’t want the boys.”
“I don’t see why we should pretend,” said Amy, boldly, flushing as the girls turned their laughing eyes upon her. “We always have a lot better time with them,” she persisted, and the Little Captain hugged her impulsively.
“Of course we do. Don’t let ’em tell you different,” she said gayly, then turned decidedly on her heel. “I don’t know about the rest of you,” she flung back at them over her shoulder, “but I do know I’ve got to be getting home. Mother will think I’m lost. Coming, Mollie?”
And so they parted, promising to get together on the morrow for a grand “pow-wow” and to make definite plans for their outing.
“Is Allen coming to-night, Betty?” asked Mollie of the Little Captain, as they stopped before Betty’s door.
“He said he was,” said Betty, lightly, adding ruefully: “And he left before I had a chance to contradict him.”
“Which of course you wanted to do,” teased Mollie, adding, soberly: “Have you noticed anything unusual about Allen, Betty?”
Betty looked startled, but her answer sounded indifferent enough.
“I haven’t had much of a chance to notice anything about him lately,” she said, but sharp little Mollie was not one whit deceived.
“He’s got something on his mind,” she said, thoughtfully. “Once or twice I’ve met him on the street and he was in such a hurry going somewhere that he didn’t even notice me. The last time I called after him and he stopped and apologized for not seeing me, just like a gentleman. But for all that, he was in a dreadfully big hurry to get away.”