"Yes, he was on our team—"
"Oh, you are the great football player," interrupted Elizabeth. She made no secret of her admiration for "great football players."
"Not exactly great," answered Mr. Foster, "but I have played some. My interest in sports has rather kept me away from society. That accounts for me not being better acquainted in Chelton, or perhaps—"
"Hello there!" came a hail from the road.
"Jack and Walter!" exclaimed Cora, as at that moment another machine came along and drew up alongside the fence which separated the highway from the meadow. "Now, won't they laugh at us!"
"Well, I declare!" exclaimed the mud-bespattered young fellow. "If that isn't Jack! And Walter Pennington is with him!"
"What's up?" called Jack, leaping from the car and running across the meadow, after a quick climb over the fence.
"A great deal is up," said Cora.
"Well—Ed Foster! Where in the world did you come from?" Jack added as he saw the young man about to alight from Cora's car.
"From the ditch," was Ed's laughing answer, as he looked down at his splattered garments. "I just got but in time to—"