Darry listened with interest, but his chief concern seemed to be for Amy and the loss of her five dollars.
“Hard luck,” he laughed. “Now she will have to do without George Washington sundaes for the next six months to make up.”
“But the poor girl who gave her that five-dollar bill——”
“Poor girl!” exploded Darry, sitting up straight in his seat to stare at Jessie in astonishment. “I am used to your kind heart, Jess, but this is more than I could expect, even of you. Why pity a girl who passes a counterfeit bill? She probably is one of a gang of counterfeiters.”
“Oh, I should hate to believe that,” said Jessie, quickly. “Somehow, she didn’t look exactly dishonest.”
“Yet she gave you—or Amy, rather—a counterfeit bill in exchange for five good ones,” Darry argued. “That doesn’t seem exactly honest, you know.”
“Just the same, I don’t intend to believe any one guilty until the guilt is proved,” said Jessie, stoutly, and Darry, from the superior heights of his age, bent upon her a tolerant smile. Despite his slightly patronizing manner, Darry really regarded this chum of Amy’s as one of the squarest, most companionable girls he knew. For her age, he conceded, magnanimously, she sure was a wonder!
“All right,” he said. “Believe anything you like. And now, to change the subject to something more pleasant, Miss Alling told Burd that you girls would set the time to go; so, just when will you and Amy be ready for the trip to Forest Lodge?”
That, indeed, was the all-important question to the Radio Girls in the days that followed. Although they had numerous costumes for all occasions, they suddenly discovered that their wardrobes contained nothing that was really suitable for a vacation in a real, honest-to-goodness forest. This sad state of affairs, they decided unanimously, must be remedied immediately.
“Because one cannot possibly have a good time,” Amy had argued, flippantly, “until one has the proper kind of clothes.”