"Well, we didn't," said Roy, nibbling a piece of grass for want of something better. "And you ought to take it as a proof of our devotion, that we didn't stop for any. We were too anxious to get here to tell you our news."
"And blow a little," scoffed Mollie, the irrepressible.
"Oh, for goodness' sake stop talking," entreated Betty, with her hands to her ears. "If the boys want biscuits they shall have them—if I have to stay up all night to cook some for them. They can have anything in the house, as far as I'm concerned."
"Hear, hear!" cried the boys in chorus, looking up admiringly at her flushed face.
"If volunteering has that effect," Roy added, "I'm going back and do it all over again."
"You said it," agreed Frank. "Gee, but I'm hungry!"
"Did you say we could have anything we wanted?" Allen was demanding of the Little Captain in an undertone. "No exceptions?"
"None," said Betty, dimpling.
"Then," said Allen deliberately, his eyes fixed steadily upon her sparkling face. "If you please—I'll take—you!"
"Oh," gasped Betty, her eyes falling before the young lawyer's ardent gaze, while the rich color flooded her face. "I said anything—not anybody. Allen, please don't be foolish. They're all looking at us."