“Oh, won’t they come?” Lottie asked in surprise.
“I don’t believe they will forego the sail,” replied Cora. “However, we won’t decide until we ask them. If they want to postpone the water sport we may take in the hop.”
This was looked upon as a reasonable solution of the problem, and while some of the girls hoped for the sail, perhaps an equal number wished to go to the dance.
It was a delightful morning, and the woods were fairly alive with young folk. It seemed there could be very few mothers or chaperones at Crystal Bay, for even in marketing hours it was always the girls with baskets, or the boys with huge paper bags, who were encountered. On benches along the beach, to be sure, “elders” might be found sunning themselves and ruining their fading sight with alleged art embroideries, but in the matter of housekeeping it was youth that prevailed at the bay.
It was a long walk to the general store at the point, but there was a resting place there, and if one wanted to tarry and felt like dancing, a very accommodating young man sat near the piano ready to play at the shortest notice. Belle and Lottie usually took a twirl while Bess and Cora did the shopping, but to-day having walked instead of coming by motor boat they sank into a seat at the water’s edge and watched others try the newest steps.
Around the drug counter a number of men were engaged in earnest conversation with the salesman. Belle needed cold cream and was waiting her turn to tell the clerk so.
“We just about have it,” said one man to the man behind the counter. “There is no question about the legal right; it is only a matter of a lost document. We may get along without it, but we understood you were a life-long resident, knew the people, and thought perhaps you could tell us something about it. Of course we don’t want anyone’s time for nothing.”
The clerk scratched his head and looked over his glasses. The scale was tipping with white stuff and a customer was waiting.
“That may be so,” he replied, slowly, “but I should think, young fellow, that them folks themselves would know more about their own business than anyone else. Why don’t you go to them?”
“Do you think for a moment that anyone is going to do themselves out of house and home like that?” asked the taller man, angrily.