Shirley had brought along her photographic outfit and said, "Please don't back out, Bet, for then none of them will go without you, and I do want to set my camera for a wild animal. I'm almost sure we'll see deer tracks. Wouldn't I be happy if I could get a picture of a deer for that wild animal picture contest?"
"And I suppose we'll be expected to stand around on one foot while you tinker with all those attachments and shutters and other crazy things," fussed Joy.
"I won't ask you to stand on one foot. You can use both and I won't charge you a cent more," replied Shirley with the slightest note of annoyance in her voice. Shirley was quiet and even-tempered and was always the peace-maker when the atmosphere between the chums became charged with strife.
"All right, Shirley. It's your affair, only don't ask me to carry one of those boxes. I'll have enough with this lunch, knowing we will soon make it lighter."
"Yes, you would fuss about everything except your lunch, Joy Evans," snapped Shirley, now thoroughly cross. "Come on, girls, let's go!" and Shirley hastened out the door in advance of others.
"Let her go, Bet. She'll cool off in the frosty air," said Joy.
"I think everybody is getting nervous and I'm sure it's my fault, I've been so irritable to everyone," replied Bet.
But as they stepped outside the door their joyous spirits revived and they started away with a song. Auntie Gibbs watched them as they tramped up over the hill, and when they disappeared, she turned back to her work.
"She's a spoiled child, that Bet! Girls didn't act like that when I was young! They didn't go gallivanting around: they stayed home and did their knitting!" the old lady scolded, but as she lacked an audience her temper soon cooled and she went about her work thinking only of her one great interest in life, Colonel Baxter and his daughter, Bet.
"Bless the child, she's the most provoking thing I've ever seen, but she's so kind to me, too. The way she bathed my head yesterday when it ached, was like a grown woman. The Colonel has a right to be proud of her."