"Hold on, hold on!" cried Roy, while the other boys looked delighted. "It's all right for you to love me, but why take the whole army into it? It would be much more exclusive the other way."
"I love them all," said Mollie stubbornly. "And I'll keep on loving them till this awful war is over. Then I'll consent to be exclusive."
"Is that a promise?" cried Roy, while the others laughed delightedly.
"But I didn't mean what you mean," protested Mollie, flushing vividly. "Oh, dear, why does everybody have to be so foolish?"
"I call upon the others to witness," said Roy, jumping to his feet and bringing his fist down upon the table, with a force that made them jump. "Mollie has consented to be exclusive when the war's over, and you all know what that means."
"Better get it in writing," Allen suggested. "That's the only safe way."
"And that isn't," said Mollie, recovering.
"Well, we'll see what we shall see," said Roy, sitting down again, rebuffed but undaunted.
"Gee, it'll be up to Roy to end the war in a hurry now," grinned Frank. "If we don't look out, he'll be starting some peace trip, and getting his name in all the papers."
"Nothing doing," said Roy decidedly. "When I deal with old Fritz, it will be with a gun!"