"Oh, but you are so sure!" exclaimed Mollie, in accented tones.
"Oh, but you are so—Frenchy!" half-mocked Betty, with a laugh.
"There! It is all settled! We will spend the Summer at Ocean View! And now come down to my house and we'll talk about it!"
And, filled with delightful anticipations, the four girls strolled down the sun-lit street.
CHAPTER II
INTERRUPTIONS
"Come in, girls! Grace, put your chocolates—what are left of them—over on the mantel. Now sit down, and I'll tell you all about it."
Betty drew forward some easy chairs for her guests, who distributed themselves about the handsome library, in more or less artistic confusion. Betty herself took a hard, uncompromising sort of chair, of teakwood, wonderfully carved by some dead and forgotten Chinese artist. The seat was of red marble, and the back was inlaid with ivory, in the shape of a grinning face.
"Do keep yourself close against it, Betty dear," begged Grace, who sat opposite her friend. "That Chinese face positively hypnotizes me."