"Oh, he nearly told us then!" cried Grace. "Will, I'll never speak to you again, if you don't tell me that secret."
"You shall know in due time, sister mine. As for your threat, I don't mind your not speaking to me if you don't make me buy your chocolates. I care not who speaks to me!" he paraphrased, "as long as I do not have to buy their candy!"
"Here comes Percy Falconer!" interrupted Roy, and the little conference, one of many held whenever the friends met—broke up.
While the girls were getting ready with trunks of clothes, the boys were no less busily engaged. They had completed their plans for a series of cruises along the coast, in the motor boat Pocohontas, loaned to Allen Washburn by a wealthy gentleman for whom he had done some law business, though Allen was not as yet admitted to the bar.
"I'll have a chance to practice this summer, getting the boat off a sand-bar!" he had jokingly said.
And finally trunks were packed, tickets had been purchased, word had come from Ocean View that the cottage was in readiness, and at last, on a beautifully sunny June morning, the outdoor girls stood at the station, ready to take the train.
The boys were there, also, as might have been guessed.
"And when are you coming down in the boat?" asked Betty.
"In about a week," Allen said. "We're having the engine overhauled, a new magneto put in and some other things done."
"I'm coming in the auto," broke in Percy Falconer. "Father did not want me to make the boat trip, but the chauffeur will bring me down to the shore in the car."