"I think it is awfully nice of the Blake girls to take part," said Cora, "for in this little summer colony everyone ought to be agreeable."
"But I notice you are not taking part," Ed said with a laugh. "Just fancy Cora Kimball on the Casino platform."
"Don't fancy anything of the kind," objected Bess. "We are willing to be sociable but we have no ambition to shine."
"Come along," called Jack, who was on ahead with Hazel, "and mind, if anything brushes up against you, it is apt to be a coon, not a cat, as Belle thought the other night."
They started off for the path that led to the public pavilion on the lake shore. Cora was with Ed, Walter had Belle on one side and Bess on the other, because he declared that the twins should always go together to "balance" him. Jack and Hazel led the way.
At the pavilion the seats were almost all occupied, for campers from all sides of the lake flocked there on the entertainment evenings. A band was dreaming over some tune, each musician evidently being his own leader.
The elder Miss Blake, Jeannette, who sat on an end seat, arose as they entered and made room for the Chelton folks to sit beside her, meanwhile gushing over the prospect of the evening's good time, and the good luck of "meeting girls from home."
Walter allowed Bess and Belle to pass to the chairs beyond Miss Blake and thus placed himself beside the not any too desirable spinster.
He made a wry face aside to Jack. He liked girls but the elder Miss
Blake!
"Mabel is going to sing 'Dreams,'" she said sweetly. "I do love
Mabel's voice in 'Dreams.'"