CHAPTER III
PREPARATIONS
"Hello, Betty!"
"Is Grace here?"
"Where's Amy? I heard she came this way—oh, yes, they're all here, boys. We've found the right place."
"Just in time for five o'clock tea, aren't we!"
"What's that? Did Percy get that off? Just for that he sha'n't have any sweet spirits of nitre!"
A chorus of laughs followed the last remarks, which, in turn, were uttered after the rather drawling manner of a tall, slim, well-dressed lad, whose countenance did not betoken any great amount of intelligence.
"Well, it is time for five o'clock tea!" remonstrated the youth who had been characterized by one of the girls as a "johnny" for want of a better term.